Season's Greetings to Everyone

Adult male (Eurasian) Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis) foraging in snow. Budapest, Hungary, Gerard Gorman.

Acorn Woodpecker and granary

Acorn Woodpecker Melanerpes formicivorus at its 'granary', a food storage site. Portal, Arizona, USA, 2014, Gerard Gorman.

Fernandina's Flicker female

Fernandina's Flicker Colaptes fernandinae. Endemic to Cuba, vulnerable and endangered. Pinar Del Rio, Western Cuba, March, Gerard Gorman.

Andean Flicker holes

Holes (for nesting and/or roosting) made by Andean Flicker (Colaptes rupicola) in the mud brick wall of a house. In village in the Andes, Peru. October 2016. This highly terrestrial woodpecker rarely pecks in wood!

Acorn Woodpecker female

Acorn Woodpecker Melanerpes formicivorus. 
Arizona, USA, July 2014. This is a female, males have all of the crown red.

Syrian Woodpecker posing

Syrian Woodpecker Dendrocopos syriacus posing on a wooden utility pole in a village in Hungary. September 2016, Gerard Gorman.

Female Buff-rumped Woodpecker

Another great little species from my recent trip to Peninsular Malaysia. A female Buff-rumped Woodpecker Meiglyptes tristis. July, 2016, Gerard Gorman.

Male Bamboo Woodpecker

Male Bamboo Woodpecker Gecinulus viridis, near Fraser's Hill, Peninsular Malaysia, July 2016. Photo by Gerard Gorman. 

Bay Woodpecker

Bay Woodpecker Blythipicus pyrrhotis, Fraser's Hill, Peninsular Malaysia, July 2016. Photo by Gerard Gorman. This is a female, males have red on the lower neck sides.

New Book: Developments in Woodpecker Biology

This recently published book contains 8 papers by different authors on a range of subjects including woodpecker systematics, morphology, cognition, ecology, breeding biology and population densities. It is edited by Hans Winkler and published by the Biologiezentrum des Oberosterreichischen Landesmuseum in Linz, Austria. I am honoured to have a paper of my own included: Foraging signs and cavities of some European woodpeckers (Picidae): Identifying the clues that lead to establishing the presence of species. Gerard Gorman.

West Indian Woodpecker - male

Adult male West Indian Woodpecker Melanerpes superciliaris. Males have an all red crown, whereas females are red only on the nape. This is the nominate race superciliaris which has much black around the eyes. Photo by Gerard Gorman, Cuba, March 2016.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at its wells

This is a female (note the white throat) Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius). Note the sap wells on the coco-palm tree. This species does not breed in Cuba, but winters in good numbers. The hole is probably not hers. Photo: Gerard Gorman, March, 2016, in Cuba.

Fernandina's Flicker

Fernandina's Flicker (Colaptes fernandinae). Adult male: note the black malar. Cuba, March 2016. Photo: Gerard Gorman. A localised and vulnerable endemic woodpecker of Cuba.

Picid in Focus: Yellow-tufted Woodpecker

Yellow-tufted Woodpecker Melanerpes cruentatus, male (note the red on the forecrown), yellow-tufted morph. Peru, November 2012, Gerard Gorman.

Woodpeckers in cartoons!

Check out the wonderful work of Finnish cartoonist Seppo Leinonen. His cartoons highlight, with humour, some of the key issues facing forests (and other habitats). He is also big fan of woodpeckers! http://www.seppo.net/e/