Birdwatching - 3055 🐦

🦉 The white-backed woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos)

• Dendrocopos (Greek): dendron - tree, coptō - to hit, beat
• leucotos (Greek): leukos - white, nōton - back

This woodpecker, although similar to its closest relative - the Great Spotted Woodpecker, however, from the outside you can notice that it has a different color. Its name speaks for itself, the feathers on its back are white. However, there are still differences, males have a large red cap, females do not have it, as well as a white lower body with barely noticeable stripes.

This woodpecker prefers old forests with an abundance of rotten birches and aspens - this is where it searches for larvae, methodically peeling off the bark. It is because of the brittle and rotten bark that its knocking seems much quieter than that of other woodpeckers.