Birdwatching - 3245🐦

🦉 The white-backed woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos)

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

It's easy to see why this species has this name—the back and wing spots are white. The underparts are a dirty white with speckles, while the belly and undertail are pinkish. The male's cap is entirely red, while the female's is black. Overall, it is very similar to the Great Spotted Woodpecker.

It lives in deciduous and mixed forests, preferring swampy areas with old rotten trees.
It inhabits deciduous and mixed forests, preferring swampy areas with old, rotten trees. It was in just such a place that I discovered this fellow.
They feed like other woodpecker species; in cold weather, they may eat berries. However, I've never seen them create "forges" to store pine cones, as Great Spotted Woodpeckers do.