It is one of the very few woodpeckers in the world with only three toes: most woodpeckers have four, arranged zygodactylously.
From Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker
It is a glacial relict in southern Europe: its southern populations were left isolated in the mountains as the ice retreated.
From Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker
It is a cold-adapted species, which makes it especially vulnerable to warming: modelling projects that it will lose on average 90% of its suitable habitat in the Balkans.
From Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker
It is the scarcest woodpecker in Spain: there are fewer than a hundred pairs and it is practically confined to the Navarrese Pyrenees.
From White-backed Woodpecker
Its European distribution is relict: after the last glaciation it was left confined and isolated in the mountain massifs of the south of the continent.
From White-backed Woodpecker
In 2020 the first GPS telemetry study of the species was published, making it possible to calculate its true home range.
From White-backed Woodpecker
Those adaptations absorb the impact and protect its brain from repeated damage.
From Great Spotted Woodpecker
It eats wood-boring insect grubs, seeds and nuts, and occasionally the eggs and chicks of other birds.
From Great Spotted Woodpecker

Ecosystems