Thursday 1 November 2012

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER

The Great spotted woodpecker is our commonest woodpecker the other 2 British woodpeckers being the Green woodpecker and the Lesser spotted woodpecker.

The male and female Great spotted differ in the male having a small red patch on the back of it's head (the nape)

            the female

               the male

The juvenile also differs in appearance in that it has a solid red cap.

           juvenile great spotted

The great spotted woodpecker makes its nest by chiseling out holes in trees with its dagger shaped bill, it prefers old dead trees where the wood is easier to hack out.
It's food consists of insects and their larvae which it chisels out beneath the bark, they also eat seeds and berry's and will come into gardens to feed on peanuts fat and scraps that are put out for them. They are capable of chiseling into bird boxes where they will eat the chicks and eggs of the birds that use them.






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