The grey-headed woodpecker, also known as the grey-faced woodpecker, is a Eurasian member of the woodpecker family, Picidae. Along with the more commonly found European green woodpecker and the Iberian green woodpecker, it is one of three closely related species found in Europe. Its distribution also stretches across large parts of the central and Eastern Palaearctic, all the way to the Pacific Ocean and south to the Himalaya and the Malay Peninsula.
Region
Central and Eastern Palearctic
Typical Environment
Occurs from central and eastern Europe across Siberia to the Pacific, and south through the Himalayas to parts of China and the Malay Peninsula. It inhabits mature deciduous and mixed forests, forest edges, riparian woodlands, parklands, and orchards with abundant standing deadwood. The species prefers open-structured woods with aspen, birch, alder, or oak, and uses rotten trunks for nesting cavities. In winter it ventures into gardens and semi-open farmland where old trees remain.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 2500 m
Climate Zone
Temperate
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
This woodpecker specializes in feeding on ants, often foraging on the ground or probing rotting stumps with a strong, chisel-like bill. It prefers mature deciduous or mixed forests with plenty of deadwood for nesting. Males show a small red forecrown, while females lack red, making sexing subtle at a distance. Its ringing whistles carry far in spring, and it drums less frequently than many other woodpeckers.
The subspecies Picus canus hessei has a black nape. Male in Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand
Formica rufa is one of the species eaten
Eggs of Picus canus
Temperament
shy and unobtrusive
Flight Pattern
undulating with short rapid wingbeats
Social Behavior
Typically solitary or in pairs outside the breeding season. Pairs excavate nest cavities in decaying trunks or large branches, often reusing territories yearly. Both sexes incubate and feed the young, and family groups may remain together briefly after fledging.
Migratory Pattern
Partial migrant
Song Description
In spring it gives a clear, ringing series of whistled notes that accelerate slightly. Calls are softer and more musical than the European green woodpecker, and drumming is relatively infrequent and short.
Plumage
Green upperparts with a yellowish rump, grey head and neck, and pale greyish underparts with fine mottling; wings are darker with barring. Male has a small red forecrown; both sexes show a dark moustachial stripe. Tail is dark with pale barring; feathers appear soft with a matte green sheen on the back.
Diet
Primarily feeds on ants (adults, larvae, and pupae), which it extracts from soil, anthills, and rotting wood. Also takes beetle larvae and other invertebrates gleaned from bark crevices. In autumn and winter it supplements with berries and fruits, and may visit suet feeders in some areas.
Preferred Environment
Forages on the ground and on low trunks in open woodland, forest edges, and clearings with decaying wood. Frequently uses riparian groves, old orchards, and parklands where ant colonies are abundant.
