Home > White-backed Woodpecker

It is the largest of the spotted woodpeckers at 24-26 cm long and has plumage 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.

The nominate race D. l. leucotos occurs in central and northern Europe, with the race D. l. lilfordii found in the Balkans and Turkey. It is a scarce bird, requiring large, mature woods with plenty of dead wood. Numbers have decreased in Nordic countries. Ten further races occur in the region eastwards as far as KoreaKorea is a formerly unified country, situated on the Korean Peninsula in north East Asia adjacent to China in the west and Russia in the north. When World War II ended in 1945, the country was divided into two: the Republic of Korea ( South Korea) and the and JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honsh.

In the breeding season it excavates a nest hole about 7cm wide and 30cm deep in a decaying tree trunk. It lays three to five white eggs and incubates for 10-11 days. It lives predominantly on wood-boring beetles as well as their larvae, as well as other insects, nuts, seeds and berries. Drumming by males is very loud, calls include a soft kiuk and a longer kweek.