Birds · Piciformes · Picidae

White-backed Woodpecker

Dendrocopos leucotos

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

A medium-large woodpecker tied to mature beech woods. Its Spanish name refers to a plumage detail of the nominate subspecies leucotos, of northern and eastern Europe; the Iberian subspecies lilfordi has a barred back rather than plain white.

Weight

117 g on average

Diet

Insectivore

Feeds mainly on insects and other invertebrates.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

In pairs

Usually lives in pairs, sometimes for life.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

Estimated population

Barely a hundred breeding pairs in the whole of Spain

Insectivore Diurnal In pairs Bird

17countries 9parks14same family

Fun facts

It is the scarcest woodpecker in Spain: there are fewer than a hundred pairs and it is practically confined to the Navarrese Pyrenees.
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.
In 2020 the first GPS telemetry study of the species was published, making it possible to calculate its true home range.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat & environment: Mature beech woods, pure or mixed, with old and rotting trees in which to feed and excavate the nest. In Spain it lives only in the Navarrese Pyrenees (Irati, Quinto Real) and the woods of the Ansó valley (Huesca), where its presence is vestigial. Its conservation depends directly on forest management respecting those needs

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List; SEO/BirdLife (ficha y III Atlas); Campión et al. 2020, Acta Ornithologica 55; Cárcamo 2006, Pirineos 161; Cárcamo 2016, Le Casseur d'os 16; Cárcamo et al. 2019, Munibe 67; Fernández, Azkona y Lorente 1994, Ardeola 41(2); Garmendia et al. 2006, Biodiversity and Conservation 15; Gorman 2004, Woodpeckers of Europe