Great Spotted Woodpecker
Dendrocopos major
Also known as: Picot Garser Gros
Habitat
Mid-canopy
Diet
Omnivore
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
75 g
About This Species
A common woodland woodpecker with a bold black, white and red plumage pattern, often first noticed by its loud, rapid drumming on resonant dead wood used to advertise territory rather than to feed. It readily visits garden feeders for peanuts and suet in many areas, making it one of the easier woodpeckers to observe at close range outside the forest. Late winter and early spring bring the most frequent drumming and calling as pairs establish territories before nesting.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Garden-feeder birds tolerate reasonably close observation from a window or hide, but forest birds are shyer and are better watched with binoculars from a stationary position beneath the canopy.
- Avoid approaching or tapping on a nest tree, since the species excavates a fresh cavity most years and is sensitive to disturbance while incubating.
- Leaving dead wood and old cavities in place where safe to do so supports both feeding and nesting for this and other cavity users.
LCAvesPiciformesPicidae
Seasonal Activity
4,943,352 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Picidae
Traits
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Foraging
- Mid-canopy
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 75 g
Photo
(c) Paul Cools, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Paul Cools
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.