Features& Description
The Black Woodpecker, from its Latin name Dryocopus martius, is Europe’s largest woodpecker, with a wingspan of 73 cm.
About the size of a carrion crow, its plumage is entirely black except for the cap above the head, which is totally red and slightly crested on the back of the skull. In females, this cap is reduced to the back of the head only.
Its anatomy is adapted to tapping trees with its beak, and it has a long tongue to dislodge the larvae it feeds on.
Its legs are equipped with toes that are opposite 2 to 2.
Habitat(Biotope)
The Black Woodpecker is found in wooded areas, taiga and dense forests.
It prefers large forests and areas of spaced trees.
Behavior& habits
The Black Woodpecker is a sedentary bird, active only during the day.
With its powerful calls echoing through the woods at great distances, it also knocks on hollow trunks, choosing those with the right resonance to signal its presence.
It quickly climbs tree trunks, camouflaging itself behind the trunk as soon as it spots potential danger. It quickly changes trees or flies away with a powerful, irregular and undulating flight.
Reproductionand immature
The male Black Woodpecker chooses a nesting site before the courtship ritual begins in January, and offers it to his female when she has been won over.
He digs the nest by drilling a hole in a healthy or diseased tree, up to 15 m high.
The female generally lays 3 to 5 eggs, which incubate for two weeks.
The young fledge fairly quickly, often after 30 days.
Cryor Voice
The Black Woodpecker has a rich repertoire of loud calls. It is often heard all year round, in flight and uttering alarm calls “krruk krruk krruk…”
On landing, it emits a high-pitched “kliiiih-èh”.
Its uniformly pitched song is a “kou, kui, kui-kui-kui-kui-kui…”
When he’s not singing, he’s drumming in the spring with a series of powerful, sonorous percussive sounds like automatic-weapon bursts that can be heard from 2 to 4 km away.
Black Woodpecker2
Le Pic Noir
Black Woodpecker
