Bird Guide

Great Spotted Woodpecker vs White-backed Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Dendrocopos major

Medium75 gWoodland

An adult great spotted woodpecker is 20–24 cm (7.9–9.4 in) long, weighs 70–98 g (2.5–3.5 oz) and has a 34–39 cm (13–15 in) wingspan. The upperparts are glossy blue-black, with white on the sides of the face and neck. Black lines run from the shoulder to the nape, the base of the bill and about halfway across the breast. There is a large white shoulder patch and the flight feathers are barred with black and white, as is the tail. The underparts are white other than a scarlet lower belly and undertail. The bill is slate-black, the legs greenish-grey and the eye is deep red. Voice: The call of the great spotted woodpecker is a sharp kik, which may be repeated as a wooden rattling krrarraarr if the bird is disturbed. The courtship call, gwig, is mostly given in the display flight. Drumming on dead trees and branches, and sometimes suitable man-made structures, serves to maintain contact between paired adults and to advertise ownership of territory.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Great Spotted Woodpecker
Recorded by Lionel Triboulin · Drumming · Arrondissement de Dieppe (near Beauvoir-en-Lyons), Seine-Maritime, Normandy, France · CC0
Photo: kallerna · Public domain
White-backed Woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos)

White-backed Woodpecker

Dendrocopos leucotos

Medium117 gForest

It is the largest of the spotted woodpeckers in the western Palearctic, 24–26 cm long with wing-span 38–40 cm. The plumage is 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. Drumming by males is very loud, calls include a soft kiuk and a longer kweek.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the White-backed Woodpecker
Recorded by Nikita Panfilov · Uncertain · Mednoe, Kalininsky District, Tver Oblast, Russian Federation · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Andrew Bazdyrev · CC BY 4.0

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Great Spotted Woodpecker and White-backed Woodpecker.