Black Woodpecker
Dryocopus martius
Aves › Piciformes › Picidae › Dryocopus
Conservation status: least_concern
The Black Woodpecker is Europe's largest woodpecker, an all-black bird with a striking red crown that makes it unmistakable in flight and perched. Its powerful bill and strength allow it to excavate large rectangular holes in trees to hunt for wood-boring insects and carpenter ants deep within the wood.
How To Identify
The Black Woodpecker is one of Europe's largest woodpeckers, sporting robust build and striking all-black plumage year-round. Its powerful bill and deeply pigmented feathers make it easily noticeable within the dark depths of a forest.
Habitat
The Black Woodpecker lives in mature beech and pine forest.
Behaviour
The Black Woodpecker is a crow-sized species characterized by a loud wailing call and rectangular excavations in trees.
Native Range
The black woodpecker is native to mature forests across the northern Palearctic and also to parts of Asia, including Korea Japan and China, and to the Middle East, including Iran and Kazakhstan.
Did You Know?
Europe's largest woodpecker; excavates cavities later used by owls, ducks and bats.
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