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Great spotted woodpecker

Great spotted woodpecker or spotted woodpecker (lat. Dendrocopos major) is a species of birds of the woodpecker order, woodpecker family, motley woodpecker genus.

The modern classification includes 14 subspecies of the great spotted woodpecker, whose representatives differ in the size of the body and beak, as well as in the shades of the main color of the plumage.

What does a spotted woodpecker look like?

The size of the spotted woodpecker is like that of a thrush: the body length of an adult is 22-27 cm, with a weight of 60 to 100 g. The main color of the plumage is black and white in various shades. The head, back and rump are black with a blue tint, the undertail is red or pink. The shoulders, belly, as well as the forehead and cheeks, depending on the range, are painted white, brownish-white or dark brown. Large white areas stand out on the shoulders of the bird, separated by a black dorsal stripe. Black flight feathers are covered with white spots, forming 5 light stripes on the wing. The light cheeks of the woodpecker are bordered by black "mustache".

Males have a red transverse stripe on the back of the head - the only sexual difference between motley woodpeckers. Juveniles are colored like adults, but are distinguished by a red crown interspersed with narrow, black stripes.

Woodpeckers have red or brown eyes. A strong, sharp beak is lead-black in color, legs are dark brown.

A distinctive feature of woodpeckers is a particularly hard, sharp tail, which birds use as a support when moving along vertical surfaces. And also the presence of a long (up to 4 cm), sticky tongue, with which woodpeckers extract prey from the narrowest holes.

Where do woodpeckers live

The spotted woodpecker is one of the most numerous and widespread bird species that lives in most European countries, northwest Africa and Asia Minor.

In most of the range, woodpeckers lead a sedentary lifestyle, only at the northern borders in famine years they wander to other regions.

Woodpeckers are unpretentious and adapt to any landscape where trees grow. On European territory, they are found in dry and swampy forests - mixed, coniferous and deciduous. Often settled in city parks and cemeteries. The inhabitants of the African continent prefer cedar forests, olive groves and cork oak forests. Populations of Asian countries inhabit thickets of rhododendron and broad-leaved forests of foothill regions. In atypical habitats, for example, in the tundra, woodpeckers appear exclusively in search of food.

What do woodpeckers eat?

In spring and summer, insects and their larvae form the basis of the diet. Beetles (including tree beetles): bark beetles, leaf beetles, stag beetles, ground beetles, weevils. Various butterflies and caterpillars of carpenters, glassworms, whites, as well as aphids, scale insects and many types of ants. Sometimes shellfish and crustaceans are added to the menu.

On occasion, woodpeckers do not disdain carrion (like tits) and can ruin the nests of small bird species (the same tits or finches) and can even ruin the nests of their relatives by eating eggs and chicks. In summer, the pulp of currants, raspberries, gooseberries is readily consumed. Residents of cities often feed on garbage dumps.

In winter, plant foods predominate in the diet - acorns, nuts and seeds of conifers, as well as aspen bark. Woodpeckers extract seeds from cones using the "forge": they clamp the cone in a previously prepared "anvil" - splitting the wood and pulling out the seeds with powerful blows of the beak. In the spring, at the beginning of sap flow, woodpeckers pierce the bark of trees and drink the juice.

Woodpecker breeding

Woodpeckers are monogamous and a couple that breaks up after breeding often reunites the next year. The mating season, depending on the range, lasts from late December to mid-May. During the breeding season, the drumming and calls of woodpeckers can be heard up to 1.5 km away. Males arrange mating dances and flights that end in mating.

The male himself chooses a place for the nest - a tree with soft wood (alder, birch, larch) and begins to hollow out a hollow at a height of up to 8 m. The work takes 2 weeks, sometimes the female replaces the male. The result is a hollow, 25-35 cm deep and up to 12 cm in diameter, sometimes with a visor of tinder fungus.

At the end of spring, the female lays 5-7, rarely 4-8 pure white, glossy eggs. Incubation at night, and most of the day the male is engaged. The incubation period lasts 10-13 days, after which naked and blind chicks are born.

The offspring are fed by both parents, making about 300 feedings per day. After 10 days, the strengthened chicks meet their parents at the entrance to the hollow, and after another 10-13 days they begin to fly out of the nest. For three weeks, the brood stays nearby, at first still eating at the expense of their parents, and then leaves their native territory.

On average, woodpeckers live for about 9 years, in exceptional cases 2-3 years more.

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Report on the topic "Woodpecker" tell you about these wonderful animals.

woodpecker report

The woodpecker is a bird from the woodpecker family, which has about 220 species. The most common are the Greater and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. The main habitat is North Africa and Europe, and only 5 species live on the American continent.

What does a woodpecker eat?
The woodpecker feeds mainly on bark beetle larvae and insects, which it takes out from under the bark.

The woodpecker is a very useful bird, it saves trees from bark beetles. Eats 750-900 bark beetles per day. Every year he makes a new hollow for himself, and leaves the old one for other birds.

In winter, the woodpecker feeds on the seeds of coniferous trees.

Woodpecker Description

The woodpecker has a variegated coloration. He climbs trees well, he is helped in this: short legs with tenacious claws. The hard tail makes it possible to securely rest against the trunk in order to form a strong support. The woodpecker's beak is straight, strong and sharp.

The device of the skull of this bird allows you to protect the brain from sharp and frequent blows. In addition to the strong bone of the head, there is a whole softening system, represented by additional fluids and sinuses.

The nest is made jointly by the male and female, hollowing it out in the trunk of an aspen, alder or birch. At night, woodpeckers rest in an upright position, clinging their claws to a tree trunk or to the walls of a hollow.

The woodpecker is called the orderly of the forest! The woodpecker culls diseased, pest-infested trees.

Woodpeckers move along the tree in a spiral and constantly tap, hollowing out the bark. The bird's tongue is covered with sticky saliva and small cloves with which it pricks insects.

How do woodpeckers live?

These birds are sedentary. They do not fly to warm countries for the winter. The most they can do is a short flight to another forest, where there will be food all winter. The way they feed allows them to winter in the same places, because in winter, when there is no way to find insects, they can eat the seeds of pine trees.
For its nest, the woodpecker makes a hollow, finding depressions in dry trees and enlarging them with the help of its beak.
In spring, males arrange real duels on drums. Having found a dry, standing trunk, the duelist chooses a place on it that is as dry as possible in the sun. It is it that makes the loudest and most sonorous sound when the musician begins to quickly tap on it with his beak. It is these fractions that we hear in the spring forest.

Each of us had the opportunity to hear the sound of a woodpecker. When you watch this nimble multi-colored bird, you wonder how such a small body has enough strength to hammer a tree with such speed and zeal. What do we know about this feathered worker? Woodpecker - or not? Where does he live? What does it eat besides insects? How does it reproduce? The answers to all these questions, as well as photographs of a beautiful and useful bird are presented in the article. Happy reading and viewing!

Appearance

The woodpecker family consists of 30 species of birds. They live in almost everything except Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Antarctica. The most common representative of this family in Russia is the spotted woodpecker. Migratory bird or not, we will learn about this later, but for now let's talk about its external features.

You can recognize the motley woodpecker by its color: black and white body and wings, red "cap" on the head and the feathers of the lower part of the tail of the same color. The paws of the bird are short, not adapted to movement on the ground. But the structure of the limbs (thin, long, spread fingers) allows the feathered one to cling well to the hooked sharp claws that cling well to the bark, which allows the bird to hold firmly on a vertical surface. The beak is chisel-shaped. Due to this structure of this part of the body, the woodpecker easily breaks off the particles of the trunk and hammers the wood. The speed of beak strikes reaches 10 times per second.

Where does he live?

Woodpecker - This fact is confirmed by all the literature of an encyclopedic nature. But it cannot be said that this species of birds lives only in the forest. It would be more correct to note that this is a wild bird that lives where there are trees. In addition to the forest, we can observe motley woodpeckers in almost every city yard and park. Birds of this species settle in hollows, which they themselves hollow in tree trunks in order to lay eggs in them and hatch chicks. Is the woodpecker a wintering or migratory bird? We will find out about this after we get acquainted with the information about what the representatives of this species of birds eat.

What does the woodpecker eat?

This bird is omnivorous. In the warm season, the main delicacy for her are insects: caterpillars, ants, spiders, various beetles. Woodpeckers that live near water bodies can eat crustaceans and small snails. There are also cases when birds of this species feed on eggs and chicks of small breeds of wild birds (sparrows, tits). In settlements, woodpeckers can be observed in landfills, where they eat food waste. In the cold season, the woodpecker, a useful bird, regales itself on the seeds of plants, mainly coniferous trees. In the spring, representatives of this genus of birds love to pamper themselves with birch sap. They poke a hole in it until the sweet liquid starts to drip, and then they drink it.

How does a woodpecker hibernate?

From the above information about what the bird eats in the cold season, we can conclude that the woodpecker is a wintering bird. And this is absolutely true. The woodpecker lives where he was born. And if he was born where winter happens, it means that in that place he waits for it. The migration of birds of this species can be over short distances, only during severe frosts. Then woodpeckers can migrate from the forest closer to settlements. With food at this time it is very difficult for them. In snowy winters, it is almost impossible to find food for birds. It is for this reason that woodpeckers can fly to human habitation. Caring people feed these, however, like other wintering birds, hanging feeders with food on trees and roofs of houses. With the onset of the first warm days, the feathered "snitches" either return to their habitats again, or take root forever in the vicinity of the settlement.

reproduction

So, is the woodpecker a migratory bird or not? You have learned the answer to this question, and then we will talk about how their breeding season goes. At the end of winter, representatives of this genus of birds gather in small flocks. Males make loud noises resembling crackling, thus inviting females to mate. When a pair has formed, they choose a tree and begin to equip the nesting site. In April-May, the female woodpecker lays eggs in the amount of 3 to 8 pieces. The pair incubate them alternately. Chicks appear on the 15th day. For another month, the babies remain in the hollow, where the male and female bring food. By the end of July, the fledglings begin to learn to fly, but before that they independently emerge from the hollow and move along the tree, firmly clinging to the bark with their sharp claws. Parent woodpeckers take care of their children until the end of the summer, until they learn to fly confidently, to get their own food on their own. After that, there comes a period when all representatives of the feathered family scatter, and each of them begins to live separately. The next spring, the breeding cycle begins again.

In a conversation about whether a woodpecker is a migratory bird or not, how this representative of the feathered world lives and what this representative of the world of birds eats, I would like to recall one more of his names - a forest orderly. Why is it called that way? Because it destroys harmful insects - each of us will say. The answer is correct, but not entirely complete. The woodpecker hammers only diseased trees. You will not see it on young healthy plants. On the living, he will peck only in the place where it is sick. Thus, the bird eliminates the focus of the disease and protects the plant from further damage. Here he is, a little feathered forest orderly!

Probably, each of us met this amazing forest dweller while walking through the forest. And even if you did not manage to see the feathered one, it can be identified by the characteristic dry fractional knock. The bird's habitat is very extensive and includes almost all terrestrial regions where woodland is present. This is due to the fact that woodpeckers live exclusively in trees and never walk on the ground.

Forest bird woodpecker. Description, life cycle

For many years, scientists have been interested in the characteristics of the behavior and life cycle of birds. There were times when woodpeckers were classified as pests and deliberately destroyed. But it soon turned out that this amazing creature is a full-fledged doctor of forest flora, because it destroys thousands of larvae and harmful insects that can lead to the death of entire hectares of forest.

Varieties

The bird belongs to the woodpecker family, which includes more than 200 different species. A significant part of the representatives is found in the forest areas of North America, while in our regions you can see more than 10 species. Among the most famous are the following:

Description

A significant part of the woodpecker species is of medium size, with the exception of the tiny golden-fronted and lesser spotted, which weigh about 10 grams. The largest representatives, such as the zhelna, are able to recruit up to 600 grams of weight.

Externally, the bird looks very beautiful. The plumage may have black and white coloring, sometimes speckled. On the head is a characteristic red Riding Hood. The woodpecker is distinguished by a thick, strong and relatively long beak, with the help of which the bird easily hollows out a hollow in any breed. But in most cases, she prefers diseased trunks with soft wood.

The ability to climb trees perfectly is due to the presence of short legs with tenacious fingers. Most species have 4 toes on their feet, with the exception of the three-toed woodpecker. When searching for food, the bird tears off large pieces of bark from the tree, which helps other animals find food.

Habitat

As mentioned above, the feathered doctor of forest flora can be found almost anywhere where there is a forest. A significant part of the representatives of the species prefers a solitary lifestyle away from signs of human activity. But in the absence of a food supply, the bird can change its place of residence and live in city parks or private gardens. For this reason, the woodpecker is found almost everywhere, except for the Subpolar regions and the Australian islands.

. It practically does not make seasonal migrations and long flights. The site of one adult individual occupies an area of ​​about two hectares. If there is not enough food, the feathered one can fly several kilometers from its home. After such a journey, he rarely returns. This fact is the answer to the question: is the woodpecker a migratory bird or not?

Many species are omnivorous and freely tolerate aggressive climatic conditions, so there is simply no need to fly to warmer climes.

Features of life

A favorite pastime of all ornithologists and people who are fond of wildlife is observing the behavior of birds in different conditions. If you look at the woodpecker, he does not show any high requirements for the conditions of detention. To exist normally, it is enough for a bird to have access to insects that are found under the bark of trees. The most pleasant habitat is the area near rivers, lakes and other forest water bodies. This is due to the fact that in such places there are ideal conditions for the prosperity of insect colonies.

In the rainy period, these pests begin to intensively destroy trees, so the woodpecker has many important tasks. In addition to the main task of searching for food, the woodpecker can hollow out the trunk to create a new nest. He does this almost every year. But small species of woodpecker, such as the wryneck, prefer the nests of other birds, because their beak is not strong enough.

A unique feature of all woodpeckers is the ability to move incredibly quickly through the trees. Even tiny bird cubs begin their first independent steps not in flight, but while climbing the trunk. By nature, the bird has short legs with tenacious fingers.

It is important to note that the life cycle of a bird remains the same throughout the year. In a cold winter, you can hear how, somewhere in the forest, a local doctor is hammering a trunk, making a loud sound.

What does woodpecker eat

The main condition for the stay of birds in our regions in the cold winter is the abundance of food. The non-migratory group includes only those individuals that are omnivorous and do not impose high requirements on the choice of diet. In addition to the main food in the form of insects, woodpeckers do not refuse coniferous seeds, nuts and even acorns.

To get a nutritious larva from under the bark, the bird uses not only a strong beak, but also a surprisingly dexterous tongue. Its length often exceeds the length of the beak itself, and there are sharp teeth at the tip. In one season, the forest healer destroys a colossal number of harmful insects that cause great damage to the local flora. Woodpeckers devour almost all insects that come across their eyes. This is about:

• termites;
• caterpillars;
• ants:

The bird does not refuse tasty snails. In the absence of such food in the cold season, the woodpecker can also eat berries, and seeds different trees. If severe hunger sets in, the bird migrates to cities and towns, where the food supply is much wider.

Interesting features of the woodpecker:

Based on the foregoing, it is safe to say that the woodpecker is one of the most unique, interesting beautiful birds that live in our forests, being their decoration.

And even though for many years the woodpecker was considered a pest and even mass-destroyed until the moment when scientists determined that the bird only hammers old, rotten and diseased trees. It is they who save the flora from many diseases, and also equip dwellings for other birds, leaving their nests.

They also tear off whole pieces of bark and open passages to insects and other birds.