Albania (B), Armenia (B), Austria (B) (NB), Azerbaijan (B) (NB), Belarus (B) (NB), Bosnia and Herzegovina (B), Bulgaria (B) (NB), Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska) (B) (NB), Czech Republic (B) (NB), Egypt, Georgia (B), Greece (B) (NB), Hungary (B) (NB), Iran [Islamic Republic of] (B), Iraq (B) (NB), Israel (B), Jordan (B) (NB), Lebanon (E) (B), Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (B) (NB), Moldova [Republic of] (B) (NB), Montenegro (B), Poland (B), Romania (B) (NB), Russia (European) (B), Serbia (B), Slovakia (Slovak Republic) (B) (NB), Slovenia (B), Spain (NB), Syrian Arab Republic (B), Turkey (B) (NB), Ukraine (B) (NB).
Vagrant to Germany.
Austria, Czech Republic, Poland and southern Belarus east to western and southern Ukraine and south-western Russia, and south to Balkans, Turkey, Levant countries, extreme north-eastern Egypt (north-eastern Sinai), northern Iraq, Transcaucasia, and to north, western and southern Iran.
Population
Estimated population is 2,000,000 - 7,000,000 (2010).
Syrian Woodpecker (Dendrocopos syriacus) [XC657674]
by Domagoj Tomi\u010di\u0107 from Strossmayer park (near \u0110akovo), Op\u0107ina \u0110akovo, Osje\u010dko-baranjska \u017eupanija, Croatia (call)
Syrian Woodpecker (Dendrocopos syriacus) [XC463576]
by Mats Rellmar from Ok\u0119cie Business Park 01 (near Warszawa), Warszawa, mazowieckie, Poland (alarm call, call)
Subspecies
Genus sometimes merged into Picoides. Forms a superspecies with Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major), White-winged Woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucopterus), Sind Woodpecker (Dendrocopos assimilis) and Himalayan Woodpecker (Dendrocopos himalayensis). Has hybridized rarely with Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) and Sind Woodpecker (Dendrocopos assimilis). Some geographical variation, e.g. smaller birds in northern Iran and Transcaucasia named as subspecies transcaucasicus, often with more white in outer tail, while latter population and also those from Asia Minor tend to be darker below, but overlap in characters exists between these and other populations. Similarly, balcanicus (eastern Balkans) with dark flank marks and supposedly larger milleri (southern Iran) matched by individuals from elsewhere in range. Subdivision into geographical subspecies seems unwarranted.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
syriacus (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833) - South-eastern Europe, Transcaucasia, Turkey and Iran to Israel and Jordan.
transcaucasicus Buturlin, 1910 - Transcaucasia and northern Iran.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet