Great spotted woodpecker
- The peregrine falcon killed woodpeckers in the Yamal tundra, as birds changed forest habitats to open spaces in search of food. In the treeless area, this hawk became the main threat to woodpeckers.
- Great spotted woodpecker chicks learn to fly after 20–23 days, spending this time in the nest. Parents fly to the nest every 2–4 minutes, making up to 300 feedings per day.
- In the great spotted woodpecker, the male differs from the female by a red transverse stripe on the nape. In young birds, regardless of sex, the crown is red with black longitudinal stripes.
- The average lifespan of the great spotted woodpecker is about 9 years, but in Sweden, an individual aged 12 years 8 months was recorded. This age is the maximum known in Europe.
- The drumming of the great spotted woodpecker is very short, lasting about 0.6 seconds and consisting of 12–13 merging beats. Individual beats are almost indistinguishable, and the sound quickly fades.
- The drumming of the great spotted woodpecker is audible up to 1.5 km away. In good weather, the sound spreads especially far.
- The great spotted woodpecker uses up to 57 “anvils” on its territory, but usually actively uses only two to four. In some cases, up to 5–7 thousand scales and broken cones accumulate under a tree.
- The great spotted woodpecker makes many different sounds throughout the year. Its voice is heard for various reasons, including mating excitement, territorial disputes, fear, and nest demonstration. In winter, its activity is often accompanied by cracking cones stuck in bark cracks.
- The great spotted woodpecker pecks bark with its beak and extracts insects with its tongue, creating a hole up to 10 cm deep. Its tongue, about 40 mm long, allows it to reach prey in deep crevices.
Age
Great spotted woodpeckers have a typical lifespan of from 2 to 10 years, with a maximum recorded lifespan of 12 years and 9 months, and a theoretical lifespan of from 9 years to 12 years and 10 months. The age of sexual maturity for the species is from 9 weeks and 1 day to 1 year and 3 months. Development begins with an embryo that develops inside an egg, followed by the nestling stage, during which the young are in a cavity and receive food from their parents for a period of from 2 weeks and 6 days to 3 weeks and 4 days. The adult stage begins when the bird is able to reproduce and live independently, lasting from 1 to 9 years.
Phenotype
Young great spotted woodpeckers are initially covered in down feathers, which are later replaced by plumage. The adult has a strong, straight beak used for drilling wood and obtaining food. A bright red spot is present on the adult’s nape. The adult's plumage consists of a black back and wings with white spots, a white breast, and red under-tail coverts.
Physiology
The great spotted woodpecker measures from 12 centimeters to 3.6 meters in height, and its body length ranges from 22 to 26 centimeters; the wingspan is 36 centimeters. The species’ mass varies from 61.6 to 71.5 grams in adults, while young woodpeckers weigh between 5 and 70 grams and measure from 5 to 22 centimeters in length. Adult great spotted woodpeckers have a body mass of 70 to 100 grams and a body length of 22 to 26 centimeters. The young woodpeckers’ body mass ranges from 5 to 70 grams, and their body length is from 5 to 22 centimeters.
Habitat
The great spotted woodpecker inhabits land and forest landscapes, occurring at altitudes up to 2.5 kilometers; the species is found in temperate mixed forests with warm summers and a prevalence of oak, birch, and maple trees, as well as in flooded meadows where water frequently covers the ground and there is abundant grass, and taiga environments characterized by cold winters and numerous coniferous trees such as spruce and pine. The climate varies, always being very wet with almost constant rainfall and high humidity, and includes conditions of many rains and a cool summer, snow in winter, a warm summer and many rains, and a warm summer with a not very cold winter.
Shelter
The great spotted woodpecker shelters within a nest, which is a structure built or utilized for laying eggs and raising young. The species locates its nest inside tree trunks at heights ranging from 5 to 15 meters. Nests are constructed using wood chips as the primary building material.
Geography
The great spotted woodpecker occupies the Palearctic biogeographical region and is found within several distinct ecosystems, including Celtic broadleaf forests, broadleaf forests of Western Europe, Baltic mixed forests, European Atlantic mixed forests, Sarmatian mixed forests, and Carpathian mountain forests.
Feeding
The great spotted woodpecker obtains insects and their larvae from beneath tree bark, and frequently consumes seeds of coniferous trees during winter; its diet includes beetles, insect larvae, ants, pine and spruce seeds, cones of conifers, and one unspecified insect. The species employs an active hunting strategy to search for and acquire food by pecking at bark and wood with its beak. It feeds on ants, beetles, flies, Hymenoptera, butterflies, bedbugs, Orthoptera, dragonflies, stoneflies, and net-winged insects. The daily food requirement ranges from 20 grams to 60 grams.
Reproduction
The great spotted woodpecker’s embryonic development lasts 1 week and 4 days, and a clutch contains from 4 to 7 eggs. Both parents excavate a nest cavity in a tree, with the female laying the eggs, and then both parents incubate them and feed the young. The offspring reach maturity between 1 year and 1 year 1 month; the species reproduces every 1 year, producing from 4 to 7 young each time.