Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
Dryobates minor
About This Species
Europe's smallest woodpecker, a sparrow-sized bird easily overlooked as it forages quietly high in the canopy of mature broadleaf woodland, often moving with tits and other small birds in mixed flocks outside the breeding season. Its presence is far more often detected by a rapid, weak drumming roll or a thin, high call than by sight, since it favours the thinnest branches at the treetops. Late winter and early spring, before leaves emerge and while males are drumming to establish territory, is the most reliable time to locate one.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- It receives legal protection from disturbance and nest destruction under wildlife law across much of its European range, including special protection for nest sites in the United Kingdom.
- Watching from open ground without approaching a nest hole closely, and keeping well back if drumming or feeding activity is centred on one tree, minimises the risk of disturbance to what is a declining species in parts of its range.
- Because it nests in soft, decaying wood that is easily damaged, disturbing or climbing near a nest tree should be avoided entirely.
LCAvesPiciformesPicidae
Seasonal Activity
614,119 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Picidae
Photo
(c) Leonid, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Leonid
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.