Woodpeckers
Black Woodpecker
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Dryocopus martius
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Voice
Call
Christian Kahle
Call
Camille Vacher
Call
Klaus-Jürgen Papke
How to recognize it
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Largest European woodpecker, crow-sized or bigger
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Entirely black, male with full red crown
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Female with red only on the hindcrown
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Slow, uneven flight; no typical bounding woodpecker pattern
About the species
The Black Woodpecker stands out as a large, calm-looking forest dweller with an almost all-black body. In the male, the red cap on the head is the most memorable detail, and its overall presence feels steady and deliberate.
It is noisy through the year, with a voice that carries far. In the breeding season it also drums on trunks, but around the nest it can be surprisingly quiet.
It favors mature forests with tall trees, especially places with old, sick, or dead trunks. It feeds mainly on wood-dwelling insects, especially ants and beetles, and in cities it may show up in parks; in most of its range it stays year-round.
Where to find
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In mature parks with tall old pines and spruces — listen for a loud ‘kree-kree-kree’ from the canopy or rapid drumming on a dead trunk.
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On the city edge near wooded patches and large cemeteries with dead trees — look for fresh chips below the trunk and a big oval nest hole high up.
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In mixed woodland parks after windthrow or cutting, it is often caught feeding on a rotten stump, stripping bark and hammering deep into the wood.
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In winter it may move closer to quiet residential green belts with old plantings — most often giving itself away by a sharp call from the treetop.
You might also see
Sources
- eBird — Dryocopus martius Sightings map and full description on eBird
- Wikipedia — Black woodpecker Encyclopedia article