Foraging signs of two woodpecker species

On the left, a thin tree stump worked on by Black Woodpecker Dryocopus martius. On the right, a spruce tree stripped of its bark by Three-toed Woodpecker Picoides tridactylus in search of bark-beetles. Bialowieza NP Forest, Poland, March 2019. Many of the foraging signs that woodpeckers leave are difficult to assign to species but some, like these, are typical to each.

Middle Spotted Woodpecker

Middle Spotted Woodpecker. L.medius. Buda Hills, Hungary. Yesterday, March 5th 2019. Gerard Gorman.

Grey-headed Woodpecker on the ground

Female Grey-headed Woodpecker (Picus canus) Danube Delta, Romania, by Eugen Petrescu. This species regularly forages on the ground for its favourite food, terrestrial ants.

Lineated Woodpecker eating avocado

Lineated Woodpecker Dryocopus lineatus, female, eating avocado fruit, Brazil, January 2017. Thanks to Andy Foster for this great image.

Woodpecker New Year

Good luck and good woodpeckers in 2019!

Season's Greetings!

Here's hoping for many woodpeckers - wrynecks, piculets, flickers, flamebacks, yellownapes, all - in 2019!