NL·0629Herbarium of the Nature Library
- Name
- Dryocopus martius
- Family
- Picidae
- Native to
- Forests from Spain and France across Europe, Turkey and the Caucasus, through Russia and Siberia to Japan and northern China
- Habitat
- Temperate forest, Boreal forest, Mountains
On eBird ↗
Black Woodpecker
Live sightings near you, the range map, bar charts of when it is seen, and Macaulay Library photos and recordings.
Black woodpecker
Dryocopus martius
Also calledKara ağaçkakan (Turkish) · Schwarzspecht (German) · Pic noir (French) · Picamaderos negro (Spanish) · Zhelna (Russian) · Palokärki (Finnish)
Europe's largest woodpecker, crow-sized and all black with a red crown. The large oval holes it carves in old trees become homes for owls, stock doves, bats and pine martens.
The black woodpecker is a large woodpecker that lives in mature forests across the northern Palearctic. It is the sole representative of its genus in that region, and its range is expanding. The black woodpecker is easily the largest woodpecker species in Europe as well as in the portion of Asia where it lives and is one of the largest species worldwide. This non-migratory species tends to make its home in old-growth forest or large forest stands and excavates a large tree hole to reside in. In turn, several species rely on black woodpeckers to secondarily reside in the holes made in trees by them. This woodpecker's diet consists mostly of carpenter ants. This species is closely related to, and fills the same ecological niche in Europe as, the pileated woodpecker of North America and the lineated woodpecker of South America, also being similar to the white-bellied woodpecker which is distributed to the south somewhat of the black woodpecker in Asia. Wikipedia
What it can do
- iExcavates large, oval nest holes that many other species later use
- iiRips into rotten stumps and trunks to reach carpenter ants
- iiiDrums loudly on resonant trunks to advertise territory
- ivIts old holes are key nest sites for Tengmalm's owl, stock dove and goldeneye
In the field
Field marks
- aAll-black plumage, crow-sized
- bMale has a red crown from bill to nape; female only a red rear crown
- cPale ivory bill and pale eye
- dFlies with a straight, flappy flight, not deeply undulating
- Voice
- A loud, whistling 'kree-kree-kree' in flight, a plaintive 'kleee-a' when perched; long, powerful drumming.
- Not to be confused with
- Carrion crow and jackdaw lack the red crown and pale bill and do not climb trunks. Green woodpecker is green with a red cap. Grey-headed woodpecker is much smaller and green.
- Where to see it
- Białowieża Forest (Poland/Belarus), the Bavarian Forest, Pyrenees, Alpine forests, Finnish taiga.
- When
- Resident; drumming and calling most frequent Feb–Apr
Listen
Looking for field recordings…
Life & habits
- Diet
- Carpenter ants and wood-boring beetle larvae; some berries
- Habitat
- Mature conifer, beech and mixed forests with large old trees
- Size
- 40–46 cm; wingspan 67–73 cm; 250–370 g
Leaves large rectangular excavations at the base of ant-infested trees and stumps.
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Native range
Forests from Spain and France across Europe, Turkey and the Caucasus, through Russia and Siberia to Japan and northern China
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
Woodcuts and engravings matched from the Source Library’s scanned books by name. Plates marked “relative” show a close kin rather than this exact species. Click a plate to read the page it came from, with translation.
History of Animals, Book I: On Viviparous Quadrupeds
Conrad Gessner · 1554 · p.865
Historiae Animalium Liber III: De Avium Natura
Conrad Gesner · 1555 · p.720
Ornithology
Ulisse Aldrovandi · 1599 · p.879
Noah's Ark
Athanasius Kircher · 1675 · p.137
Ornithology: The History of Birds
Ulisse Aldrovandi · 1599 · p.876
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Dryocopus martius in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
Marginalia
The species name 'martius' links it to Mars, the Roman god whose sacred bird was the woodpecker, and early naturalists called it the 'great black woodpecker'.
Curiosity
A single black woodpecker nest hole can be reused by other cavity-nesting animals for decades after the woodpecker leaves.
Kinship
Photographs: iNaturalist contributors under the licences shown. Records: GBIF.org. Historical plates: Source Library (CC BY-SA 4.0; originals public domain). Summary text: Nature Library editors and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Medicinal and edibility notes are historical and educational, not advice. iNaturalist taxon 17835.