White-backed Woodpecker

Dendrocopos leucotos

Marginally larger than Great Spotted Woodpecker, but appears distinctly longer-billed. White back in some subspecies is not always obvious when perched but easy to see in flight. Streaky flanks are distinctive. Also note varying amounts of red on the lower belly and undertail. Gives a somewhat hoarse “kik”, sometimes in rattled series. Drum is fast and fades towards the end. Found in mature undisturbed deciduous and mixed forest with lots of dead trees; sometimes near water, as well as in recently burned areas. Threatened by habitat loss in much of its range.

识别特征

It is the largest of the spotted woodpeckers in the western Palearctic, 24–26 cm long with wing-span 38–40 cm. The plumage is similar to the great spotted woodpecker, but with white bars across the wings rather than spots, and a white lower back. The male has a red crown, the female a black one. Drumming by males is very loud, calls include a soft kiuk and a longer kweek.

分类信息

The white-backed woodpecker was described by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1802 under the binomial name Picus leucotos. The specific epithet leucotos combines the Classical Greek leukos meaning "white" and -nōtos meaning "-backed". The type locality is Silesia, a historical region mainly located in Poland. The species is now placed in the genus Dendrocopos that was introduced by the German naturalist Carl Ludwig Koch in 1816.<p>Twelve subspecies are recognised.<p>The subspecies D. l. owstoni is sometimes considered a distinct species, the Amami woodpecker.

学名
Dendrocopos leucotos
命名信息
(Bechstein, 1802)
Piciformes
Picidae
Dendrocopos

分布与栖息地

The nominate race D. l. leucotos occurs in central and northern Europe, with the race D. l. lilfordi found in the Balkans and Turkey. Ten further races occur in the region eastwards as far as Korea and Japan. It is a scarce bird, requiring large tracts of mature deciduous forests with high amounts of standing and laying dead wood. Numbers have decreased in Nordic countries. In Sweden, its population decline has caused the Swedish government to enact protection for the species in the national Biodiversity Action Plan.

迁徙
Resident species

行为

In the breeding season it excavates a nest hole about 7 cm wide and 30 cm deep in a decaying tree trunk. It lays three to five white eggs and incubates for 10–11 days. It lives predominantly on wood-boring beetles as well as their larvae, as well as other insects, nuts, seeds and berries.<p>In the wild the white-backed Woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos) can survive between three and four years, while in captivity they can survive for approximately eleven years.

保护状况

种群趋势
declining

照片

分布

鸟叫声

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