Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Dryobates minor)

Other Names (World)
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Lesser Pied Woodpecker, Barred Woodpecker

Family
Picidae (Woodpeckers)

Size
14 - 15 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Habitat
Temperate forest, boreal forest. From sea-level - 2,000 m.

Range (Guide)

Albania (B), Algeria, Andorra (B), Armenia (B), Austria (B) (NB), Azerbaijan (B) (NB), Belarus (B) (NB), Belgium (B) (NB), Bosnia and Herzegovina (B), Bulgaria (B) (NB), China (mainland) (B), Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska) (B) (NB), Czech Republic (B) (NB), Denmark (B) (NB), Estonia (B) (NB), Finland (B) (NB), France (B) (NB), Georgia (B), Germany (B) (NB), Greece (B) (NB), Hungary (B) (NB), Iran [Islamic Republic of] (B), Iraq (B) (NB), Italy (B) (NB), Japan (B), Kazakhstan (B), Latvia (B) (NB), Liechtenstein (B) (NB), Lithuania (B) (NB), Luxembourg (B) (NB), Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (B) (NB), Moldova [Republic of] (B) (NB), Monaco (B) (NB), Mongolia (B), Montenegro (B), Netherlands Antilles (B) (NB), North Korea (B), Norway (B), Poland (B), Portugal (B) (NB), Romania (B) (NB), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B) (NB), Russia (European) (B), San Marino (B) (NB), Serbia (B), Slovakia (Slovak Republic) (B) (NB), Slovenia (B) (NB), Spain (B) (NB), Sweden (B) (NB), Switzerland (B) (NB), Tunisia, Turkey (B) (NB), Ukraine (B) (NB), United Kingdom (B) (NB).

North-western Europe to north-western China and eastern Russia, Korea., south-eastern Siberia, Sakhalin and Hokkaido, Japan.

Population
Estimated population is 3,000,000 - 15,000,000 (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Food
Almost exclusively insects and their larvae.

Voice
A soft whistling 'pee-pee-pee', repeated up to 20 times.

Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (498)...)

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Dryobates minor) [XC120411]
by Jarek Matusiak from Dzhukey, Kazakhstan (drumming)

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Dryobates minor) [XC631522]
by Stephan Risch from Hageven, Limburg, Vlaanderen, Belgium (call)

Nest
In an excavated hole of a tree, often on the underside of a branch.

Eggs (Guide)
4 - 6; smooth, glossy, white.

Subspecies
Related to Grey-capped Woodpecker (Picoides canicapillus) and Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (Picoides kizuki). Recent genetic data suggest also a link to North American "Picoides pubescens group". Subspecies intergrade extensively over species' huge range, with many intermediate populations. Numerous additional subspecies have been described, but often on rather weak grounds, and differences are often part of a clinal variation. Named subspecies not accepted include hispaniae (Spain), jordansi (central European mountains), serbicus (Montenegro), wagneri (Romania), hyrcanus (northern Iran), mongolicus (south-western Siberia to Mongolia), nojidoensis (north-eastern Korea) and immaculatus (Kamchatka).

The following 13 subspecies are recognised:

minor (Linnaeus, 1758) - Northern Europe from Scandinavia east to Ural Mts.
kamtschatkensis (Malherbe, 1860) - Urals east to R Anadyr and Kamchatka.
amurensis (Buturlin, 1908) - Lower R Amur and Sakhalin south to north-eastern Korea and northern Japan (Hokkaido).
comminutus (Hartert, 1907) - South-central and southern Britain.
hortorum (Brehm, CL, 1831) - France east to Poland and south to Switzerland, Hungary and northern Romania.
buturlini Hartert, 1912 - Iberia, southern France and Italy east to Romania, Bulgaria and northern Greece.
ledouci (Malherbe, 1855) - Northern Africa (north-eastern Algeria, north-western Tunisia).
danfordi (Hargitt, 1883) - Greece and Turkey.
colchicus (Buturlin, 1908) - Caucasus and Transcaucasia.
quadrifasciatus (Radde, 1884) - Lenkoran region of south-eastern Transcaucasia.
morgani (Zarudny & Loudon, 1904) - North-western Iran and Zagros Mts.
immaculatus (Stejneger, 1884) - Anadyr Basin and Kamchatka Pen. (eastern Siberia.
hyrcanus (Zarudny & Bilkevitch, 1913) - Northern Iran.

References
See References.

The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7

Files:

JPG files for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Dryobates minor) - 10 files

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