Middle Spotted Woodpecker
The Middle Spotted Woodpecker is a member of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is around 8 inches in length with a wingspan of around 13 inches and it has a plumage similar to the Great Spotted Woodpecker. As with that species, the upperparts are predominantly black with white oval wing patches, there is white barring on the wings and the underparts are white. The main differences are that the Middle Spotted Woodpecker has a red crown, no black moustachial stripe, a pink vent and dark streaks on the flanks. The Middle Spotted Woodpecker differs from all its European relatives in being almost totally monomorphic, i.e. males and females are almost identical in appearance.
Despite its name, the Middle Spotted Woodpecker is not mid-way in size between its relatives, the smaller Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and the larger Great Spotted Woodpecker and Syrian Woodpecker. The Middle Spotted Woodpecker is much closer to the 2 larger species in all measurements being just 15% smaller but it is around 40% larger than Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.
The Middle Spotted Woodpecker can be found in much of west and east Europe and south west Asia and is locally common in the right habitat but with varying and often quite low population densities. Its range extends from France east to European Russia, mainly in the temperate continental zone, but also north to the Baltic states. It is absent from Finland and Norway and extinct in Sweden and Denmark. Due to its sedentary nature it has never been recorded in the UK and Ireland. The range extends south and east in to the Mediterranean Basin, the Balkan peninsula, Turkey, the Caucasus, Iraq and Iran. The Middle Spotted Woodpecker prefers deciduous forest, especially areas with old oak, hornbeam and elm, and a patchwork of clearings, pasture and dense woodland.
In the breeding season the Middle Spotted Woodpecker excavates a nest hole about 2 inches wide in a decaying tree trunk or thick branch. The female lays 4 to 7 eggs which are incubated for 11 to 14 days.
The Middle Spotted Woodpecker likes to feed high in the trees on a diet of insects and their larvae which it finds by picking them from branches and twigs rather than hacking them from beneath the bark. It will also feed on tree sap.
Unlike most of its European relatives, the Middle Spotted Woodpecker does not regularly drum and females probably do not drum at all. Any drumming is rather mild and limited to early spring and it is usually made in response to competition from another male. Both adults do however tap loudly at the nest hole in spring. This tapping is a communicative signal and not part of hole excavation and it is not drumming. The Middle Spotted Woodpecker seems to rely more on its “song” when announcing its territory rather than drumming.
Date: 22nd May 2018
Location: Ropotamo, Burgas Province, Bulgaria
Despite its name, the Middle Spotted Woodpecker is not mid-way in size between its relatives, the smaller Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and the larger Great Spotted Woodpecker and Syrian Woodpecker. The Middle Spotted Woodpecker is much closer to the 2 larger species in all measurements being just 15% smaller but it is around 40% larger than Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.
The Middle Spotted Woodpecker can be found in much of west and east Europe and south west Asia and is locally common in the right habitat but with varying and often quite low population densities. Its range extends from France east to European Russia, mainly in the temperate continental zone, but also north to the Baltic states. It is absent from Finland and Norway and extinct in Sweden and Denmark. Due to its sedentary nature it has never been recorded in the UK and Ireland. The range extends south and east in to the Mediterranean Basin, the Balkan peninsula, Turkey, the Caucasus, Iraq and Iran. The Middle Spotted Woodpecker prefers deciduous forest, especially areas with old oak, hornbeam and elm, and a patchwork of clearings, pasture and dense woodland.
In the breeding season the Middle Spotted Woodpecker excavates a nest hole about 2 inches wide in a decaying tree trunk or thick branch. The female lays 4 to 7 eggs which are incubated for 11 to 14 days.
The Middle Spotted Woodpecker likes to feed high in the trees on a diet of insects and their larvae which it finds by picking them from branches and twigs rather than hacking them from beneath the bark. It will also feed on tree sap.
Unlike most of its European relatives, the Middle Spotted Woodpecker does not regularly drum and females probably do not drum at all. Any drumming is rather mild and limited to early spring and it is usually made in response to competition from another male. Both adults do however tap loudly at the nest hole in spring. This tapping is a communicative signal and not part of hole excavation and it is not drumming. The Middle Spotted Woodpecker seems to rely more on its “song” when announcing its territory rather than drumming.
Date: 22nd May 2018
Location: Ropotamo, Burgas Province, Bulgaria
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Also in: Bulgaria
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