- White-backed Woodpecker
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White-backed Woodpecker 
Male D leucotos 
D leucotos pair Conservation status Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Piciformes Family: Picidae Genus: Dendrocopos Species: D. leucotos Binomial name Dendrocopos leucotos
(Bechstein, 1802)The White-backed Woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos) is a Eurasian woodpecker belonging to the genus Dendrocopos.
It is the largest of the spotted woodpeckers in the western Palearctic, 24–26 cm long with wing-span 38–40 cm and has plumage similar to the Great Spotted Woodpecker, but with white bars across the wings rather than spots, and a white lower back. The male has a red crown, the female a black one.[1]
The nominate race D. l. leucotos occurs in central and northern Europe, with the race D. l. lilfordi found in the Balkans and Turkey. Ten further races occur in the region eastwards as far as Korea and Japan. It is a scarce bird, requiring large, mature woods with plenty of dead wood. Numbers have decreased in Nordic countries. In Sweden, its population decline has caused the Swedish government to enact protection for the species in the national Biodiversity Action Plan.[2]
In the breeding season it excavates a nest hole about 7 cm wide and 30 cm deep in a decaying tree trunk. It lays three to five white eggs and incubates for 10–11 days. It lives predominantly on wood-boring beetles as well as their larvae, as well as other insects, nuts, seeds and berries. Drumming by males is very loud, calls include a soft kiuk and a longer kweek.
Contents
Subspecies
There are twelve recognised subspecies.[3][4]
- D. l. leucotos (Bechstein, 1802), the nominate subspecies, widespread across Eurasia from north, central and eastern Europe to northeast Asia, Korea and Sakhalin.
- D. l. lilfordi (Sharpe & Dresser, 1871) Pyrenees to Asia Minor, Caucasus and Transcaucasia.
- D. l. tangi (Cheng, 1956) Sichuan province, western China.
- D. l. subcirris (Stejneger, 1886) Hokkaido, northern Japan.
- D. l. stejnegeri (Kuroda, 1921) northern Honshū, Japan.
- D. l. namiyei (Stejneger, 1886) south Honshū, Kyushu, Shikoku, Japan, and Cheju-do island, Korea
- D. l. takahashii (Kuroda & Mori, 1920) Ullung Island (off eastern Korea).
- D. l. owstoni (Ogawa, 1905) Amami-O-Shima Island in the northern Ryukyu Islands, Japan.
- D. l. fohkiensis (Buturlin, 1908) mountains of Fujian province, southeast China.
- D. l. insularis (Gould, 1863) Taiwan.
- D. l. quelpartensis (Kuroda & Mori, 1918).
- D. l. uralensis (Malherbe, 1860).
Line note references
- ^ The Birds of the Western Palearctic [Abridged]. OUP. 1997. ISBN 019854099X.
- ^ National Biodiversity Action Plan of Sweden, Upsala (1999)
- ^ "GlobalTwitcher.com: White-backed Woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos". http://www.globaltwitcher.com/artspec.asp?thingid=10585.
- ^ "eol Encyclopedia of Life: Dendrocopos leucotos". http://www.eol.org/pages/1251265.
References
- Gorman, Gerard (2004): Woodpeckers of Europe: A Study of the European Picidae. Bruce Coleman, UK. ISBN 1 872842 05 4.
- BirdLife International (2004). Dendrocopos leucotos. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
External links
Categories:- IUCN Red List least concern species
- Dendrocopos
- Woodpeckers
- Birds of Asia
- Birds of Europe
- Birds of Japan
- Birds of the Ryukyu Islands
- Birds of Turkey
- Birds of Italy
- Fauna of Italy
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