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White-backed Woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos) — photo 1 of 6
© Andrew Bazdyrev CC BY 4.0

Woodpeckers

White-backed Woodpecker

Dendrocopos leucotos

Year-round

How to recognize it

  • 26–31 cm, larger than the great spotted woodpecker

  • White lower back; wings with white cross-bars, not spots

  • Male with red crown, female with black crown

  • Soft "kweek" and a longer hoarse "kiuk"

About the species

The White-backed Woodpecker looks sturdy and long-necked, with a more drawn-out bill than the similar Great Spotted Woodpecker. The easiest thing to remember is the pale lower back and the soft pink area under the tail.

It keeps to itself and is easy to miss, but it does not avoid people. Its voice is not heard often, yet its drumming is loud and sustained, while the usual calls are softer and lower than those of a close relative.

It needs old deciduous or mixed woods with plenty of dead trees. It feeds mainly on insect larvae under bark and in decaying wood, then adds berries, nuts, acorns, and seeds later in the season. In many places it stays year-round, though it may make short movements in autumn and winter.

Where to find

  • In old deciduous parks and mature courtyards with decaying trunks — especially where dead birches and aspens are left standing, the White-backed Woodpecker gives itself away by loud drumming and a sharp “kiuk” from the canopy.

  • Along pond edges, drainage ditches, and wet floodplain strips — look for tapping low on rotten trunks and fallen wood near the ground.

  • In quiet green squares beside an old wooded park, it moves in short hops between trunks and calls only occasionally from high branches.

  • On winter lawns near stumps and rough bark, it may feed at the base of trees, working insect larvae from soft, damaged wood.

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Sources