White-backed Woodpecker range in
Europe and western
Asia[2]
The white-backed woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos) is a
Eurasianwoodpecker belonging to the genus Dendrocopos.
Taxonomy
The white-backed woodpecker was
described by the German naturalist
Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1802 under the binomial name Picus leucotos.[3] The specific epithet leucotos combines the
Classical Greekleukos meaning "white" and -nōtos meaning "-backed".[4] The
type locality is
Silesia, a historical region mainly located in Poland.[5] The species is now placed in the genus Dendrocopos that was introduced by the German naturalist
Carl Ludwig Koch in 1816.[6][7]
The subspecies D. l. owstoni is sometimes considered a distinct species, the Amami woodpecker.[8]
Description
It is the largest of the spotted woodpeckers in the
western Palearctic, 24–26 cm long with wing-span 38–40 cm. The
plumage is similar to the
great spotted woodpecker, but with white bars across the wings rather than spots, and a white lower back. The male has a red crown, the female a black one.[9] Drumming by males is very loud, calls include a soft kiuk and a longer kweek.
Distribution
The nominate race D. l. leucotos occurs in central and northern
Europe, with the race D. l. lilfordi found in the
Balkans and
Turkey. Ten further races occur in the region eastwards as far as
Korea and
Japan. It is a scarce bird, requiring large tracts of mature deciduous forests with high amounts of standing and laying dead wood. Numbers have decreased in
Nordic countries. In
Sweden, its population decline has caused the Swedish government to enact protection for the species in the national
Biodiversity Action Plan.[10]
Ecology
In the breeding season it excavates a nest hole about 7 cm wide and 30 cm deep in a decaying tree trunk. It lays three to five white
eggs and incubates for 10–11 days. It lives predominantly on wood-boring beetles as well as their
larvae, as well as other
insects, nuts, seeds and berries.
Life Span
In the wild the white-backed Woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos) can survive between three and four years, while in captivity they can survive for approximately eleven years.[11]
^
abBirdLife International and NatureServe (2014) Bird Species Distribution Maps of the World. 2014. Dendrocopos leucotos. In: IUCN 2014. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3.
http://www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 27 May 2015.
^Koch, C.L. (1816). System der baierischen Zoologie (in German). Vol. 1. Nürnberg: Stein. pp.
xxvii,
72.
^
abGill, Frank; Donsker, David;
Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (2020).
"Woodpeckers". IOC World Bird List Version 10.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 28 May 2020.