Birdwatching - 3021 🐦

🦉 The lesser spotted woodpecker (Picoides minor , synonym of Dryobates minor)

• Dryobates (Greek) : druos - forest, woodland, batēs - walker, stroller
• minor (Latin) - smaller

This woodpecker is a real tiny one among its relatives, slightly larger than a sparrow. Outwardly, they look like other spotted woodpeckers, the same white and black colors, as well as a red cap on the head of males. And if you are attentive, you can also notice brown spots on the muzzle. However, they are not congenital, but acquired. This woodpecker does not peck thick tree bark like all the others, but only thin bark on tree branches, as well as old rotten and loose bark, from which its muzzle gets dirty.

He is almost not afraid of people. If you do not make sudden movements, he can allow himself to be observed from a distance of a couple of meters. True, in winter it is difficult to notice him - he rarely joins the tits in the forest, preferring to get food on his own. But in spring his voice gives away immediately: a high drawn-out cry is carried through the forest. By the way, this little one hollows out a nest in soft rotten wood, as I already said, his weak beak cannot cope with strong bark.