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  Profile

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  In flight

Woodpeckers

White-backed Woodpecker

Dendrocopos leucotos

• epic
• 72 km/h
• Least Concern

Old-growth forest indicator species. If you see one, the woods around it are still healthy.

Population

approx. 1.32–3.35 million mature individuals globally (decreasing trend; IUCN assessed 14 Aug 2020)

Habitat

Old-growth and overmature, relatively open deciduous and mixed forest with a high proportion of standing dead trees and fallen timber; beech/hornbeam/oak forest in central-southern Europe, birch/aspen in northern/eastern range; sea level to ~1,850 m elevation

Fun fact

It is the largest of the "spotted" woodpeckers in the western Palearctic, and males are distinguished from females by a red (rather than black) crown.

Range

Eurasia, resident across ~48 countries/territories: central and northern Europe (patchily — Fennoscandia, the Alps, Carpathians, Balkans), across Russia and western Asia to China, Korea, and Japan; extent of occurrence ~40,400,000 km²

Diet

Primarily wood-boring beetle larvae and other insects extracted from dead/decaying wood, supplemented with nuts, seeds, and berries

Size

0.25 m

Wingspan

0.39 m

Lifespan

4 years