Thursday 6 January 2011

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Another year dawns and so with it I begin my yearly quest for a PBC list. I try and see as many species of bird within the Peterborough Bird Club recording area, last year I managed to get 175 species, seeing such beauties as Cattle Egret, Great (White) Egret, Waxwing and Green-winged Teal to name a few, although I missed out on Gannet and Raven. My record is 179, a total I got in 2009, so I would like to reach the heady hights of 180, who knows?

Below are a few shots of a Great Spotted Woodpecker. This is our most common woodpecker with between 25,000-30,000 breeding pairs, although it too has had hard times being all but non-existent in Scotland until 1887 when it re-colonised the country. In more recent times it has benefited from the dead wood resulting from Dutch Elm Disease.

It is similar in size to a Blackbird, with the male (shown here) having a red patch on the back of the head (the female has none and the juvenile has a red centre to its` crown). You may well hear it `drumming` soon, something it does in place of a song and it takes place in late winter and early spring. It is done by drumming its` bill on a branch and lasts for about 5 seconds and accelerates before fading away at the end.




Digiscoped using Lumix FS15 and Kowa TSN-883 x30

8 comments:

  1. We get rare visits from a pair of Green Woodpeckers on the lawn but have not been lucky enough to see a Great Spotted yet.
    Today I saw two blue tits, a Robin, a Wren and a Pied Wagtail almost all at the same time in the same part of the garden. I think they were all a bit surprised to see each other!
    Bazza’s Blog ‘To Discover Ice’

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  2. Beautiful photos of a gorgeous bird. As on other woodpeckers I've seen, I note there is a brown patch above the beak. Do you know what we're looking at there, and why it should be present in more than one type of woodpecker? (I suspect I'm asking a really stupid question, but am forging ahead anyway!)

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  3. Hi bazza, you are getting your own list together then?! The Green Woodpecker is the only one of `ours` that you will see on the floor, the two you have may well be looking for ants, their favourite food! Their call is a `yaffle`, again heard in early Spring. In fact, if you cast your mind back to the kids T.V. programme Bagpuss you will remember a character called Professor Yaffle, named after a Green Woodpecker or The Yaffle Bird.
    J

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  4. To be honest Raining Acorns, I am not quite sure, I think it is just where the nostrils are on the bill and consequently the colouring is slightly different, either that or just dirt! :)
    J

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  5. I found you from To Discover Ice. I love your site. I’m going to poke around a little bit, but don’t worry I’ll put everything back where I found it!!

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  6. Hi Kate, thanks very much! Hope you enjoy rummaging around, don`t worry I am quite messy, so you don`t have to worry too much about putting everything back in the right place!
    If you like what you see, why not press the `Follow` button, the more the merrier!
    J

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  7. I love these birds. I remember seeing one on the path outside the office where I used to work – looked a bit out of place there. Great photos!

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  8. Thanks Mask. It is unusual to see a Great Spot on the floor, they don`t normally venture far from trees!
    J

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