Great Spotted Woodpecker

The Great Spotted Woodpecker is the most common and widespread of the so-called colourful woodpeckers, with its colourful fur of black, white and red plumage. Sexual dimorphism is weak. The adult male is distinguished by its crimson red occipital area while it is black in the female. The upper parts (mantle, back, rump and uppertail coverts) are black. The black wings have a large white spot on the shoulders, formed by the external scapulaires and the large and medium internal coverts. All the remiges are black with white spots on their length forming wing bars. The two pairs of central rectrices are black and the three outer pairs increasingly white from inside to outside. The head wears a black cap between the light reddish beige forehead and the red or black back. The sides of the head and neck are white, marked with a black Y whose branches respectively join the beak (in a black moustache), the nape and the chest (the lower branch initiating a pectoral band). A black necklace joins the nape to the mantle, which is also black. The lower parts are white, except for the lower abdomen and the under-tails crimson red. The strong and pointed beak is black. The dark red eyes stand out well in the white auricular zone. The strong clawed legs are grey. The juvenile of the year has a red cap, bordered in black on the sides, the red more extended and vivid in the juvenile male. The black of the plumage is dull, the white spots of the shoulders marked with grey and the red under the tail paler. These characteristics can be confused with the Grey-headed Woodpecker which has an entirely red cap in all plumages and the underside of the tail more pink than red. It is therefore necessary to look carefully at the head pattern (in Grey-headed, the red cap is not bordered in black, the black Y of the neck is smaller and does not join the beak, or the nape).Finally, the chest is finely streaked with dark tones. In the Middle Europe and Minor Asia, however, confusion with the Syrian Woodpecker is a possibility to keep in mind, as the two species look very similar. In the Syrian, the black on the sides of the neck does not meet the black head and the red under the tail is clearly paler than in the Great Spotted Woodpecker. The 24 recognized subspecies are mainly distinguished by the tone of their lower parts which ranges from pure white to a reddish hue more or less pronounced. The most remarkable subspecies is undoubtedly ssp numidus from North Africa which has a large pectoral band completely colored in red and black.