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BLACK WOODPECKER
  Bird Call
| Characteristics: |
45 to 47 cm long and the size of a crow, this is by far the largest of the European woodpeckers. All black plumage. The male has a red cap while the female only has a red hind crown. Feathers on the hind crown are slightly elongated. Striking whitish eyes and a ivory-coloured beak.
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| Call: |
Highly vocal. Alarm call, usually given in flight, a
far-carrying krüü-krüü-krüü-krüü. Song is a series of piping whistles,
kvi kvi kvi kvi kvi kvi kvi. Drums at a rate of 17 beats per second, 2
to 3 times a minute. The woodpecker's drumming is a good example of an
instrumental sound in birds. |
| Habitat: |
Old tree populations in coniferous and mixed woodlands but also in purely deciduous forests.
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| Distribution: |
Common across Central, Northern and Southeast Europe and parts of Central Asia. Never recorded with certainty in Britain, but has been anticipated for many years.
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| Biology: |
Feeds on ants and other insects such as bark beetles in addition to spiders and other small invertebrates. Using its powerful bill it excavates a voluminous breeding hollow with a large entrance mostly in 80 to 100 year old beech or pine trees that have a trunk diameter of more than 35 cm. These hollows are mostly at a considerable height above the ground (8 to 15 m, at a maximum of 25m). It lays 3 to 5 white shining eggs. Clutches from March/April; 1 clutch a year. | 
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