The grey-headed woodpecker (''Picus canus''), also known as the grey-faced woodpecker, is a
Eurasia
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...
n member of the
woodpecker
Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. ...
family, Picidae. Along with the more commonly found
European green woodpecker
The European green woodpecker (''Picus viridis'') is a large green woodpecker with a bright red crown and a black moustache. Males have a red centre to the moustache stripe which is absent in females. It is resident across much of Europe and the ...
and the
Iberian green woodpecker
The Iberian green woodpecker (''Picus sharpei'') is a medium-sized woodpecker endemic to the Iberian peninsula. It was formerly considered as a subspecies of the European green woodpecker but differs in having little black on the head and a dusk ...
, it is one of three closely related sister species found in Europe. Its distribution stretches across large parts of the central and Eastern
Palaearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...
, all the way to the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
.
The grey-headed woodpecker is more demanding than the European green woodpecker in terms of its habitat. It prefers deciduous forest with a high proportion of dead trees, feeding primarily on ants, although not being as exclusively dependent on this group as the green woodpecker. The grey-headed woodpecker's nest is typically excavated into dead or severely damaged trees.
In the majority of areas for which population numbers are available, the grey-headed woodpecker is in decline. IUCN's ''Least Concern'' rating is primarily based on the large distribution of the species.
Taxonomy
The grey-headed woodpecker was
formally described by the German naturalist
Johann Friedrich Gmelin
, fields =
, workplaces = University of GöttingenUniversity of Tübingen
, alma_mater = University of Tübingen
, doctoral_advisor = Philipp Friedrich GmelinFerdinand Christoph Oetinger
, academic_advisors =
, doctora ...
in 1788 in the 13th edition of the ''
Systema Naturae
' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...
'' under the current
binomial name
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
''Picus canus''. The
type locality is Norway. The specific epithet ''canus'' is the Latin for "grey".
Ten
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
are recognised.
* ''P. c. canus'' Gmelin, JF, 1788 – north and central Europe to west Siberia
* ''P. c. jessoensis''
Stejneger, 1886 – east Siberia to northeast China, Korea and north Japan (includes ''griseoviridis'')
* ''P. c. kogo'' (
Bianchi Bianchi may refer to:
Places
*Bianchi, Calabria, a ''comune'' in the Province of Cosenza, Italy
Manufacturing
*Bianchi Bicycles (F.I.V. Edoardo Bianchi S.p.A.), an Italian manufacturer of bicycles, and former manufacturer of motorcycles and a ...
, 1906) – central China
* ''P. c. guerini'' (
Malherbe Malherbe may refer to:
People
* Malherbe (surname)
** François de Malherbe (1555-1628), French poet, reformer of French language
Places France
* La Haye-Malherbe, municipality of Eure (département), Eure
* Malherbe-sur-Ajon, new municipal ...
, 1849) – north central and east central China
* ''P. c. sobrinus''
Peters, JL, 1948 – southeast China and northeast Vietnam
* ''P. c. tancolo'' (
Gould
Gould may refer to:
People
* Gould (name), a surname
Places United States
* Gould, Arkansas, a city
* Gould, Colorado, an unincorporated community
* Gould, Ohio, an unincorporated community
* Gould, Oklahoma, a town
* Gould, West Virginia, a ...
, 1863) –
Hainan Island
Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...
(off southeast China) and Taiwan
* ''P. c. sordidior'' (Rippon, 1906) – southeast Tibet and southwest China to northeast Myanmar
* ''P. c. sanguiniceps''
Baker, ECS, 1926 – northeast Pakistan to north India and west Nepal
* ''P. c. hessei''
Gyldenstolpe, 1916 – Nepal and northeast India to Myanmar and Indochina
* ''P. c. robinsoni'' (
Ogilvie-Grant, 1906) – west Malaysia
The
Sumatran woodpecker (''P. dedemi'') was formerly considered a subspecies of the grey-headed woodpecker, but was split as a distinct species by the
IOC
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
in 2021. ''P. c. dedemi'' is sometimes recognised as a separate species, the black-naped woodpecker.
There is evidence for hybridisation between grey-headed and
European green woodpecker
The European green woodpecker (''Picus viridis'') is a large green woodpecker with a bright red crown and a black moustache. Males have a red centre to the moustache stripe which is absent in females. It is resident across much of Europe and the ...
s. However, these seem extremely rare. It appears that the female partner was invariably a grey-headed woodpecker. Nothing has been reported concerning the fertility of such hybrid offspring. Their plumage resembles a grey-headed woodpecker more closely, but with a red parting on the head, a reddish nape and a brighter iris, while some were conspicuous for their dark coloration.
Description
![Grey-headed Woodpecker 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Grey-headed_Woodpecker_2.jpg)
The grey-headed woodpecker is in length, has a wingspan of and weighs around . The male of the
nominate subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
has a grey head with a red forecrown. There is a black line across the
lores and a narrow black moustache stripe. The back, and wing are green. The breast and underbody are pale grey. The folded primaries are barred brown-black on grey-white. The female lacks the red forecrown but has fine black streaks on the crown. The widely distributed ''Picus canus jessoensis'' is very similar to the nominate subspecies but is slightly greyer and less green. The Chinese subspecies ''Picus canus guerini'' has a black nape patch and a greenish underbody. The subspecies ''Picus canus hessei'' is similar to ''guerini'' but is more golden green above and a deeper green below. The race on the island of Sumatra, ''Picus canus dedemi'', differs markedly from the other subspecies in having reddish rather than green above, and red, green and grey below. It has a black crown and nape. Specimens of the more widespread of the two Eastern subspecies, ''P. c. jessoensis'', are usually a little larger and heavier than individuals from the type locality. On average, it is somewhat smaller and lighter than the
European green woodpecker
The European green woodpecker (''Picus viridis'') is a large green woodpecker with a bright red crown and a black moustache. Males have a red centre to the moustache stripe which is absent in females. It is resident across much of Europe and the ...
. In the field, this distinction in size is difficult to make. Its size is approximately that of a
Eurasian collared dove
The Eurasian collared dove (''Streptopelia decaocto'') is a dove species native to Europe and Asia; it was introduced to Japan, North America and islands in the Caribbean. Because of its vast global range and increasing population trend, it ha ...
.
Grey-headed woodpeckers have uniformly olive green upperparts, transitioning across the neck to a light grey, the head being that latter colour. The typical woodpecker markings are small and not particularly conspicuous. It has a grey head with black moustache, and the male has a red crown. It has a shorter neck, slimmer bill and slightly rounder head than the green woodpecker.
Sounds
Calls made by the European green woodpecker and grey-headed woodpecker resemble each other. The far-carrying territorial song of the grey-headed woodpecker is more melodic and cleaner than the explosive "laughter" of the green woodpecker. The call series consists of ten to fifteen utterances of declining pitch and gradual slowing.
[ The verse may appear melancholic] and "dying". The territorial song of females is similar, but somewhat quieter, less melodious, but more croaky and often shorter.[Nikolai, J. 1982. ''Fotoatlas der Vögel.'' Gräfe und Unzer, Munich, Germany, p. 241. ]
Besides these partner-specific vocalisations, aggressive noises can be heard from both sexes, but more often the male. Typical are individual, sharp ''kuek'' sounds that may, with increasing irritation, be placed in sequence and be continued as ''kek''. A single ''kuek'' may also be a predator warning, as begging
Begging (also panhandling) is the practice of imploring others to grant a favor, often a gift of money, with little or no expectation of reciprocation. A person doing such is called a beggar or panhandler. Beggars may operate in public place ...
nestlings will immediately fall silent if this call is made by either parent. Individual drumming activity by grey-headed woodpeckers can be quite varied, but they drum on more occasions than European green woodpeckers. Drumming frequence can be 20 Hertz, with a "drum roll" lasting up to 40 beats, or two seconds.[ Both sexes drum, but the female less often than the male, and usually more quietly and shorter. Grey-headed woodpeckers often continue to use the same well-resonating drum sites for years – these can even be at a considerable distance from the nest. Grey-headed woodpeckers often use metal covers on masts and roofs as drumming substrate due to their favourable resonance characteristics.
]
Distribution and habitat
The grey-headed woodpecker is found in wide parts of Central, Northern and Eastern Europe, as well as a wide belt south of the boreal coniferous forests across Asia all the way to the Pacific coast, Sakhalin
Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh: ...
and Hokkaidō
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The la ...
. Its northern limit is at the border between closed coniferous and mixed forest; the southern limit is where tree steppe transitions to treeless shrubby steppe. In East Asia, the species is most differentiated, and south of Manchuria
Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...
covers the Korean Peninsula
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
, as well as large parts of eastern China and Farther India
Farther India, or Ultraindia, is an old term, now rarely used, for Southeast Asia, seen in colonial days from Europe as the part of the Far East beyond the Indian subcontinent, but south of China.
It refers to Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, Myanma ...
, the mountain forests of the Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...
.
In Europe, the type subspecies breeds within a wide belt from western France to the Urals
The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through European ...
. It has settled medium latitudes of Scandinavia as well as Central, Eastern and Southern Europe. There is contradictory information regarding its occurrence in Turkey. Most likely, several hundred pairs breed in Mittelgebirge
A ''Mittelgebirge'' (German: ''Mittel'', "middle/medium"; ''Gebirge'', "mountain range") is a type of relatively low mountain range or highland area typical of the geography of central Europe, especially central and southern Germany; it refers to ...
habitats of the Pontic Mountains
The Pontic Mountains or Pontic Alps (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Kuzey Anadolu Dağları'', meaning North Anatolian Mountains) form a mountain range in northern Anatolia, Turkey. They are also known as the ''Parhar Mountains'' in the local Turki ...
. The species is absent from the North German Plain
The North German Plain or Northern Lowland (german: Norddeutsches Tiefland) is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Balti ...
, British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
, Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
, and Mediterranean islands. In Italy, it is confined to the northernmost parts.
Behaviour and ecology
Breeding
Grey-headed woodpeckers breed in May and lay five to ten eggs which are brought up by both parents.[Niethammer, G., Rheinwald, G. & Wolters, H. E. 1983. ''Zauber und Schönheit unserer Vogelwelt.'' Verlag Das Beste, Stuttgart, Germany, p. 53. ] The young hatch after 15–17 days, and fledge in 24–25 days.
Food and feeding
The grey-headed woodpecker is a somewhat less specialised ant hunter than the European green woodpecker. In its foraging strategy it is intermediate between many ''Dendrocopos
''Dendrocopos'' is a widespread genus of woodpeckers from Asia, Europe and Northern Africa. The species range from the Philippines to the British Isles.
Taxonomy
The genus ''Dendrocopos'' was introduced in 1816 by the German naturalist Carl Lud ...
'' species on the one hand, and the often ant-specific members of the genus ''Picus
Picus was a figure in Roman mythology, the first king of Latium. He was the son of Saturn, also known as Stercutus. He was the founder of the first Latin tribe and settlement, Laurentum, located a few miles to the Southeast of the site of the lat ...
''. This reduced ant specialisation of the grey-headed woodpecker allows it to be sympatric with European green woodpeckers and even to breed at about 100 meters from them.[Gorman (2004), S. 61f.]
Nonetheless, ants and their immatures make up the lion's share of the grey-headed woodpecker's diet, particularly in spring and summer. Wood ants of the genus ''Formica
''Formica'' is a genus of ants of the family Formicidae, commonly known as wood ants, mound ants, thatching ants, and field ants. ''Formica'' is the type genus of the Formicidae, and of the subfamily Formicinae. The type species of genus ''For ...
'' as well as members of ''Lasius
''Lasius'' is a genus of formicine ants. The type species for this genus is the black garden ant, ''Lasius niger''. Other major members, which live in drier heathland, are the cornfield ant, '' L. neoniger'', and '' L. alienus''. Other species ...
'' and Myrmicinae
Myrmicinae is a subfamily of ants, with about 140 extant genera; their distribution is cosmopolitan. The pupae lack cocoons. Some species retain a functional sting. The petioles of Myrmicinae consist of two nodes. The nests are permanent and ...
such as '' Myrmica'' spp. predominate, and with termites may make up 90% of the diet. Besides those, caterpillar
Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths).
As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...
s, crickets
Crickets are orthopteran insects which are related to bush crickets, and, more distantly, to grasshoppers. In older literature, such as Imms,Imms AD, rev. Richards OW & Davies RG (1970) ''A General Textbook of Entomology'' 9th Ed. Methuen 8 ...
, bark and wood beetle larvae, flies, spiders and lice are part of the diet. In late autumn and early winter, grey-headed woodpeckers switch to including significant amounts of vegetable matter, such as berries and other fruits, in their diets on a regular basis.
Conservation status
The grey-headed woodpecker is difficult to record, as isolated breeding pairs don't often call. These are therefore easily overlooked, and population records have corresponding gaps. It is probable that European populations, especially at the north-western margin of the range, have receded in numbers and distribution. Since the 1990s, populations seem to be recovering as a result of mild winters. Globally, there is a slight reduction in population numbers, but insufficiently so for an elevated threat status. The species is therefore considered safe.
The observation of stable or slightly increasing populations in Europe may, however, be based solely on greater effort in recording the species. The overall European population is estimated at 180,000 to 320,000 breeding pairs. Key populations are found in European parts of Russia as well as Romania. Germany has around 15,000 pairs, Austria approximately 2,500 and Switzerland some 1,500.[factsheet birdlife europe (2004).] There are no summary figures for populations outside Europe.
As the grey-headed woodpecker prefers undisturbed and ancient forests with natural cohort structure as well as riparian forest
A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal, sink or reservoir.
Etymology
The term riparian comes from the Latin word '' ...
s for breeding, the destruction of such habitat is the greatest threat to the species.
References
* Gorman, Gerard (2004): Woodpeckers of Europe: A Study of the European Picidae. Bruce Coleman, UK. .
Sources
*
*
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the grey-headed woodpecker
{{Authority control
grey-headed woodpecker
Birds of Eurasia
grey-headed woodpecker
grey-headed woodpecker