Woodpeckers
White-backed Woodpecker
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Dendrocopos leucotos
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How to recognize it
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About pigeon-sized
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White lower back, striped black and white in the southern form; white bars across the wings
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Adults: red crown in male, black in female
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Soft, short call, "kiuk"
About the species
Black and white dominate its plumage, with a clean white patch across the lower back and white bars crossing the wings. The belly is pale, often washed with buff, and marked with dark streaks along the sides; a pinkish-red patch sits beneath the tail. Males have a red crown, while females have a black one.
Usually quiet and hard to spot among the trunks, it gives a soft "kiuk" or a longer "kweek". Early in the breeding season, both sexes drum on wood, producing a loud, accelerating roll that lasts about two seconds. They return to the same area to breed, but carve out a fresh nest hole in decaying wood each year.
Old, fairly open deciduous and mixed forests with plenty of dead or decaying trees are its main haunts, especially birch woods. It probes beneath bark and into rotten wood for beetle larvae and other insects, adding berries, nuts, acorns and seeds in late summer. It mostly stays in one area, though it may make short movements in autumn or winter before returning in spring.
Where to find
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Outside town, in an old birch wood, look for the White-backed Woodpecker working low on a decaying trunk, probing under bark and into the wood for larvae.
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In floodplain or waterlogged woodland along a river or lake, check fallen trunks and stumps for large, deep feeding hollows.
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In old woodland on mountain slopes during the breeding season, listen for a loud, accelerating drum.
