Gray-headed woodpecker - description, habitat, interesting facts

The woodpecker family centers hundreds of species of individuals, including gray-headed woodpeckers. In today's article, we will consider a gray-headed bird, which has the same name.

Description and distribution

1. As the name implies, the description of the head is not difficult. She is gray in color, like gray. The chest with the neck and lower part of the body is pigmented by a gray-green hue. Feathers of wings, a back with a tail of a similar color, but slightly darker, literally half a tone.
2. When an individual is in flight, green-yellow feathers are visible in the area under the tail. In the beak area there are so-called mustaches that extend to the cheeks.
3. Representatives of the male half have a red spot in the region of the little girl. In females, this feature is absent, however, according to this criterion, people distinguish the former from the latter.
4. An interesting feature of these birds is that they do not have different outfits depending on the season. We can only say that young birds are not as bright as adults. Speckles are observed on the lateral parts, and the mustache from the beak to the cheeks is smeared.
5. The younger generation has a spot on the frontal part, pigmented in red. These individuals differ from green woodpeckers in that they do not have a mask in the eye area, and the antennae are thin and inconspicuous, and the dimensions are slightly smaller.
6. These birds are more common in Eurasia, they prefer forests and the Atlantic coast. Also found individuals off the coast of the Pacific Ocean. They are found in Finland, Norway, in the vastness of our country. Birds are sedentary in nature, only in severe colds can they move to warm climatic regions.
7. Individuals live in Indonesia, near Russia and directly on the territory of the state. Vast populations were recorded in the Voronezh, Rostov, Volgograd regions, as well as in the Crimea and Karelia. In the Orenburg and Bryansk regions, the population is small.

Lifestyle

1. By their natural characteristics, birds prefer to live in deciduous and mixed areas. They need open areas like meadows, clearings, and logging sites.
2. When the breeding period has not yet begun or has already reached a conclusion, the birds can move to cities and towns. They begin to hammer holes in wooden houses, and also look for holes in brick structures.
3. In flattering terrain, they make a hollow for themselves independently in alder, aspen, and other deciduous trees. To facilitate the task, select those instances of vegetation in which the wood is already dying.
4. When the nest-building period begins, the birds do this together. Together they hatch, feed and care for the chicks. Kids, in turn, are born blind and without plumage.

Nutrition

1. The basis of the diet consists of insect larvae and bugs, worms, and other pests of nature. Birds eat large earthen ants, red ants, termites. Due to the presence of a solid and strong beak, woodpeckers can tear the earth in search of food. When they find an anthill, they instantly stick a beak into it and absorb insects.
2. These birds have a long and sticky tongue, which can crawl into various labyrinths of insects and get them. Another part of the basic food consists of beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, locusts. They can get worms from the earth and trees, and eat spiders.
3. In spring, these individuals consume maple sap, which is secreted from trees.Since these birds have a thin beak, they do not really like to hollow trees, so they do it inconsistently. But when they do this, they give preference to old and sick trees with damaged bark. So birds get insects and larvae, in particular in winter.
4. When autumn comes, the diet becomes more diverse, plant-based food is connected to it. Birds are engaged in collecting fruits that have fallen from the trees. They like to feast on cherries, apples, pears. Also lean on nuts and acorns, berries in the forest.
5. In the winter, larvae and insects are taken from the bark, as mentioned earlier. In addition, birds visit special man-made feeders in urban settlements and villages. These individuals prefer to eat alone.

Breeding

1. As soon as the considered individuals reach 1 year of life, they begin puberty. If winter is mild in warm regions, mating singing and the fraction of males with the call of females are already beginning to be heard in early February. Birds living in the European part begin their breeding season in early March.
2. At this time, you can hear a long and melodic whistle, which can not be confused with anything else. At the same time, females begin to respond to males. Only their sounds are quite hoarse and intermittent. Depending on the habitat, the voice of individuals may vary slightly.
3. As soon as birds begin to mating, males show increased activity. They can often fly even to other areas to find a companion. Due to this characteristic feature, the number of birds is relatively small. Despite the fact that the area of ​​their distribution is quite large.
4. When the pair has formed, individuals find a suitable place for themselves. Before breeding, mating games are always held. When the male takes care of the female, he makes short flights, which are accompanied by loud flapping of wings. There is also a ritual feeding of his chosen one.

These birds belong to the woodpecker order and are famous for their ability to break the bark of trees. Interesting facts include the fact that the woodpecker representatives do not live to see the end, they die from a concussion.

Video: gray-headed woodpecker (Picus canus)