Where does the black woodpecker live? Zhelna. Protection and preservation
Zelna or black woodpecker- one of the largest representatives of the woodpecker family. The black woodpecker lives throughout Europe except for the extreme south. In Asia, it is distributed in the Caucasus, in Siberia to Kamchatka, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula and Northern Japan. For habitat, it chooses high-stemmed deciduous, pine, spruce and cedar forests, often found in burnt areas.
Zhelna belongs to large birds, its body length reaches 50 cm, weight is about 300 grams. The wings are rounded, the head is large, the neck is thin. The black woodpecker has a massive chisel-shaped beak, about 55-65 mm long, the color of the beak is yellowish-gray. The bird has a jet black color of feathers, a back with a reflection. The male has a red cap of feathers on his head, which are located on his forehead, nape and crown, which is how he differs from a completely black female.
The basis of the zhelny's diet is made up of insects and their larvae. Prefers to eat lumberjack beetles, bark beetles, goldfish. It also eats ants, caterpillars and horntail larvae. During the day, the black woodpecker eats from 300 to 650 birch sapwood larvae. During the winter, it also eats the seeds of coniferous trees, but in small quantities. 
The black woodpecker leads a solitary life, except for the mating season, which begins in early March. Males attract the attention of females by loudly knocking on trees and shouting. The cry of the yellow sounds like a guttural “fre-fre-fre”, it can be heard at a great distance. Sometimes birds make a mournfully meowing call - "keee".
After mating, the birds settle together in remote areas of the forest and hollow out a hollow for themselves to build a nest. Often zhelny settle in the same nest for several years in a row. But if the nest is occupied by other birds (the hollows of the black woodpecker are often inhabited by owls, stockheads) or there are a lot of free trees in the forest, then the pair hollows out a new hollow. 
The male works more on the new dwelling, the female often sits on neighboring branches and watches the work. It takes 10-17 days to make a new hollow, pine, spruce, aspen and other trees above 8-10 m in height are selected for it. The finished nest is 40-60 cm deep, 10x17 cm inlet. 
The female lays 3-5 eggs right on the bottom of the hollow - black woodpeckers do not use bedding in their nests. After 12-14 days of incubation, chicks appear, they weigh about 9 grams. In the nest, the chicks spend the first 3-4 weeks, during this period they are fed by their parents. The grown birds stick their heads out of the hollow and scream loudly, demanding food. 
Soon they leave the nest, but their parents feed and train them for some time. When the young become completely independent, they expel them from their territory. During this period, the autumn-winter migration begins in the black woodpecker. At this time, the yellow flies far beyond its habitat.
Eating harmful insects, zhelna brings great benefits to the forest. Hunting for insects, the black woodpecker climbs up the tree trunk in a spiral. Zhelna eats all insects in its path, gouging them out of cracks in the tree bark. If the tree is heavily infested with some larvae, the woodpecker knocks the bark off it with blows of its beak and extracts the insects. It often happens that a black woodpecker completely knocks down the bark of a tree from bottom to top. 
If the zhelna discovers something especially tasty for her in the tree, then she hollows out a rectangular hole in the tree and takes out the prey. It can be a large larva, a nest of carpenter ants or a pupa of a longhorn beetle.
Appearance: The black woodpecker, or yellow, is a rather large bird, whose body size is 40-50 centimeters and weighs about 250-500 grams. It is the closest relative of the grey-haired woodpecker. It has a slender body, the neck is long and thin, and the head is relatively small. A feature of this bird is the presence of a kind of bright red “cap” on the head of males, and the female has just a red spot on the back of her head. The beak is a prominent chisel, long and very strong. The wings are long and rounded (span up to 70 cm), and the tail, although also long, is, on the contrary, pointed. The plumage is soft and thick. The color is dark, but it looks very nice. Almost the entire body, along with the tail and wings, is painted brilliant black. Females are also black, but unlike males, they do not have a shine. The beak is yellowish-gray. Young birds have a loose plumage, and more dull.
Food: Most often they eat ants, less often - other insects, larvae, pupae, beetles. They get their food with the help of their strong, long beak from under the bark of trees. They also often pick up insects from the ground. Their sticky tongue also helps them catch ants and other insects. These birds can dig into anthills for many hours in search of large ants.
Reproduction: The black woodpecker is a monogamous bird and creates a pair for the rest of its life. During the mating season, the male taps dry knots with his beak, which creates a vibrating sound that attracts females. During this period, males, when meeting, look irritably at each other and threaten with their beaks. They start nesting at the end of winter, making their own hollows in aspen, pine, barely, birch. Both partners take part in building the nest and sometimes spend half a day on it. Black woodpeckers prefer to settle every year in the same place, and if their hollow is occupied, then the male kicks out the guests. The clutch consists of 3-6 small eggs, which both parents take turns incubating for two weeks. Chicks are born weak and completely helpless. Both parents feed their young, and after 3-4 weeks the chicks leave the nest.
Habitat: Most black woodpeckers are sedentary, and are widespread in Eurasia, many of them are found in Western Europe. They prefer deciduous, coniferous or mixed forests, where there are many shrubs.
Interesting fact: These birds, which are part of the woodpecker order, have rather tough skin that protects them from insect bites, especially from carpenter ants, which they love to eat. Also, the skin is not covered with down, and the feathers are stiff and pointed at the ends. The points at the end of the tail serve as a reliable support for this bird, while it hollows out a hollow.
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Woodpeckers ( Picinae)
Vertinecks ( Jinginae) Woodpeckers ( Picumninae)
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Woodpeckers(also woodpeckers, lat. Picidae) - a family of birds of the woodpecker order.
Includes woodpecker subfamilies ( Picinae), woodpeckers ( Picumninae) and vertices ( Jinginae).
Body length from 8 to 56 cm.
They live mainly in forests, on trees, so the legs of woodpeckers are short, with long fingers and sharp claws.
Zhelna, or black woodpecker
Support when climbing trees are well-developed tail wings. Woodpeckers have a strong beak, with which they, in search of food or when building a nest, hollow out bark and wood; the exception is the vertices, whose weak beak does not allow chiselling wood.
With the help of a long tongue located in a special cavity of the skull and passing through the nostril, woodpeckers can extract insects from the passages in the wood. Woodpeckers often feed on ants in anthills, tree seeds (usually in winter) and berries.
Some species of woodpeckers live in the desert; they look for food on the ground, and live in holes or among stones, as well as in giant cacti.
In the laying of woodpeckers - usually 3-7 eggs, rarely more.
The chicks hatch naked.
Types of woodpeckers
In total, there are about 220 species of woodpeckers; they are distributed almost everywhere, they are not found only in Australia, Oceania and Madagascar.
Almost all species are sedentary or nomadic. Woodpeckers rarely fly and, as a rule, for short distances. Woodpeckers usually live alone.
The most common types of woodpeckers in Russia
- Great spotted woodpecker
- Wryneck
- Zelna
- green woodpecker
- grey-haired woodpecker
- three-toed woodpecker
Funny about woodpeckers
- One of the 2006 Ig Nobel Prizes (Wikinews) in ornithology was awarded to a California researcher for his work "Why doesn't a woodpecker have a headache?".
The scientist found that the woodpecker has a highly developed shock absorber that protects it from headaches.
Woodpecker as a curse word
A woodpecker is often called a person who "gets", that is, interferes with life, as well as just a person who is considered stupid or has done something stupid. An example of word usage: “Well, you are a woodpecker!” .
Links
Black woodpecker (Zhelna) - arboreal orderly of the forest
This large large woodpecker lives in the vast territory of Eurasia - from the Pyrenees to Japan. It is distinguished from other woodpeckers by the charcoal color of the feathers and the “red cap” on the head.
Compared to other woodpeckers, the yellow woodpecker is one of the largest species.
The length of the body from the top of the head to the tail in adult males reaches half a meter. The largest individuals weigh almost 500 g. The wingspan reaches a length of 70-80 cm. It has a long and very strong beak, capable of breaking through hard coniferous trees.
Zhelna inhabits coniferous forests.
The great black woodpecker is yellow. Report with photos and video
In Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, they can easily be found in pine forests - these birds are very numerous and are not afraid of human presence. On the contrary, people for Zhelny are of great interest, bordering on curiosity. Woodpeckers can watch a person walking through the forest for hours, flying from tree to tree.
They also live in city parks.
It is not so easy to find this black bird in a dark spruce or pine forest, but you can find it by the sounds that are heard hundreds of meters away when the bell is knocking on a tree.
In the trunk of trees, she extracts insects - bark beetles, sawflies and other pests. They form the basis of her diet. Often in the forest you can find trees completely hollowed out with yellow.
If a black woodpecker cannot get an insect out of a tree trunk when the bug is very deep in the trunk, then it uses its long tongue, which can protrude 5 cm. The tip of the tongue is sticky, so the prey itself sticks to it.
In addition to pests, it feeds on forest ants. Sometimes he, like a bear, ruins anthills and eats their inhabitants and larvae.
In addition to pest control, the woodpecker performs another important “social” function for forest dwellers - it builds housing.
Yes, most of the hollows in the forest are hollowed out with yellow. Subsequently, squirrels, martens, solongoi and numerous birds settle in them.
Most often, a black woodpecker builds its own housing on deciduous trees, at a height of at least 9 meters.
The construction of the hollow begins in the spring, when woodpeckers have found a mate and are expecting offspring.
In some cases, they do not build a new nest for their future chicks, but use last year's one. When other animals have already managed to populate it, the zhelna can drive them out of there. Then he throws out all the garbage from the hollow, ennobles.
It takes a lot of time to create one hollow - from 10 days to two weeks.
Moreover, a couple hammers a tree all daylight hours - at least 12 hours a day. This difficult task is taken over by the male. The female mainly watches how her cavalier works. From the ground, the hollow is quite difficult to see. The diameter of the “entrance”, or, as it is correctly called, “nothole”, is about 10 cm. Inside the hollow is quite spacious. The distance from the floor to the notch is 40-50 cm, the diameter of the “housing” depends on the thickness of the tree, but not less than 17 cm.
The litter in the nest is sawdust, which remained after the “construction” of the hollow.
The female usually lays 3-5 white eggs with a yellowish tint. After 2 weeks, chicks appear.
For a whole month, parents feed the chicks.
They bring them insect larvae, bark beetles, etc., which they get under the bark of trees. Zelna chicks are very voracious, so the parents work from the earliest hours of dawn until the onset of evening twilight.
After 27-30 days, the grown chicks fly out of the nest and make their first flight in their life to the nearest branch.
Now they have an independent life. But until autumn, the cubs stay close to their parents. As soon as the leaves begin to fall, the first night frosts come, black woodpeckers chase away their offspring and they scatter through the forest in search of their site, where they will live for the rest of their lives.
Zhelna leads a diurnal lifestyle, keeps to its forest all its life, most of the year they lead a solitary lifestyle.
In the wild, life lasts about 6-7 years.
Appearance and behavior. The most common among our woodpeckers, the size of a large blackbird (body length 22–23 cm, wingspan 42–45 cm, weight 50–100 g).
Description. The plumage is black and white. On the folded wings of a sitting bird, a large oval white spot.
The undertail is bright red. The back of the neck, back, rump, wing coverts are black. Tail feathers with a transverse pattern, with white predominating on the outer pairs of tail feathers, and the central pair entirely black.
The cheeks, sides of the neck, chest and belly are white, sometimes with a cream or brownish tinge. Flight feathers are black with rows of white spots. Black "whiskers" are connected by continuous stripes with black plumage of the back and nape. The male has a red spot on the back of the head, the top of the female's head is black. There are no seasonal variations in plumage.
In young birds, the color of the plumage is dimmer, the crown of the head is red in front, dark streaks are more or less pronounced on the sides. Characteristic features that distinguish adults from other spotted woodpeckers are large oval white spots on folded wings, black jumpers behind white cheeks, the absence of a solid red cap and black spots on the sides of the belly.
Voice. The song is a short (no more than 1 second) and continuous "drum" roll, rising towards the end. When excited, it emits a loud and sharp cry of "kick". Sometimes these screams merge into a "hysterical" "kick-kick-kick ...", comparable to chirring.
Distribution, status. It is very widely distributed in the northern part of the Palearctic from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
To the north it penetrates to the border of woody vegetation. Inhabits most of European Russia (absent only in treeless areas). Common. Leads a predominantly settled way of life, in the north of the range migrates to the south for the winter.
Lifestyle. Inhabits forests of different composition and age, clearings and burnt areas with separate trees or curtains, parks, gardens, cemeteries, etc. The hollow suits in trees with soft wood: aspen, less often alder, birch. Often renews last year's hollows or populates hollows of other woodpecker species.
Redstart - a small bird with a red tail
The hollow is built mainly by the male. Both parents incubate the clutch and feed the chicks. The chicks hatch naked and blind.
Omnivorous. In summer it feeds on ants, beetles, caterpillars, especially during outbreaks of their numbers, and other insects.
In winter, the main food is spruce and pine seeds, which it extracts from cones. To do this, the cones are placed in special places - “forges”: cracks and other niches in the wood, usually at the places where the trunk or large branch is broken, on top of wooden poles and in other places where the cone can be tightly clamped. In spring, it drinks maple and birch sap, punching horizontal rows of small holes in the bark.
In settlements, it visits landfills, can destroy the nests of small birds.
When feeding, he uses different techniques - chiselling, pecking, peeling the bark and others. Breeds once per year.
Differs in high activity and mobility. In autumn and winter it shows strict solitary territoriality.
Spotted Woodpecker or Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)
Other species in this family:
Zelna is the largest European woodpecker. The color of the yellow is coal-black, for which it is called the black woodpecker. Zhelna is a very shy bird. Bird report with video and photo
Detachment- Woodpeckers
Family— Woodpeckers
Genus/Species– Dryocopus martius
Basic data:
DIMENSIONS
Length: 45 cm.
Wingspan: 66-75 cm.
Weight: 300-350 g.
BREEDING
Puberty: from 1 year.
Nesting period: usually March-June.
Number of eggs: 2-6.
Incubation: 12-14 days.
Feeding chicks: 27-28 days.
LIFESTYLE
Habits: black woodpecker yellow (see photo) - a shy bird; nests in hollows.
Sounds: loud “fru-fru-fru”, less often “keee”.
Food: Insects, mainly carpenter ants.
Lifespan: According to banding, the maximum age is 7 years.
RELATED SPECIES
Zhelna white-bellied, which lives in South and East Asia.
It is not difficult to recognize a male zhelny by a bright red cap, and a female by a red spot on the back of her head. Zhelny hollow out hollows with oval or rectangular holes in living and dead trees.
Other birds often nest in these niches, for example, some species of owls and the bruise dove.
WHAT DOES IT FEED
Zhelna feeds mainly on ants.
The bird prefers large red-breasted carpenter ants, but does not disdain other species, for which it often descends to the ground. In addition to ants, the diet of the great black woodpecker includes various insects, their larvae and pupae.
On living and dead trees, the zhelna looks for beetles, which it takes out from under the bark with a long beak. In search of food, the black woodpecker rakes the turf and tears the bark from dead trees.
The bird visits anthills and catches insects with its sticky tongue. Zhelna loves large ants so much that she can spend hours digging in an anthill, extracting from it not only ants, but also their larvae.
Having found a tree, very damaged by some larvae, the woodpecker knocks the bark off it with blows of its beak and pulls out insects. In some regions, 99 percent of the diet consists of ants.
In other areas, the woodpecker's menu, along with ants, includes larvae of butterflies and other flying insects. In winter, he prefers ants and bees, extracting them from their hiding places.
BREEDING
Adults are solitary.
In March, when the mating season of black woodpeckers begins, the male attracts the attention of the female by banging his beak on dry knots that vibrate well. The cry of the males - a loud "fre-fre-fre" - is heard through the forest at a great distance. Less commonly, males make the sound "keee", reminiscent of a purr. After pairing, black woodpeckers can be observed flying from tree to tree and chasing each other on a tree trunk, moving in a spiral. Birds fly one by one and drum on a tree, then "bow".
Males, when meeting with irritation, nod their heads and threaten each other with their beaks. The male of the yellow invites the chosen one to his "estate". Here the female inspects the hollows and chooses the most convenient one. If the hollow is unfinished, the birds get to work together.
Zhelny usually hollow out several hollows in which they alternately sleep. For 3-4 weeks, the bile gouges a hollow up to 40 cm deep and up to 22 cm wide. After the nest is built, the woodpeckers mate, and soon the female lays 2-6 eggs.
Parents incubate the clutch alternately, changing approximately every 2 hours. Since incubation does not last long, the chicks are born rather weak: each of them weighs only 9 g. At first, feeding helpless chicks is not easy for parents, and after 10 days the chicks energetically demand food. Parents take care of the chicks that have left the nest for a long time.
WHERE Dwells
Zhelny, or black woodpeckers, live in almost all forests of Europe and Asia.
They inhabit both deciduous and coniferous, as well as mixed forests, with a particular preference for untouched extensive woodlands. Everywhere, the zhelny keep to areas overgrown with old tall forests.
Black woodpecker: Yellow bird (lat. Dryocopus martius)
Very often these woodpeckers are found on the sites of former forest fires.
Woodpeckers usually nest in beech forests and pine forests, but their hollows can also be seen in the trunks of spruces, junipers and larches. In the presence of trees that are convenient for nesting, yellowbells nest even in parks. These shy and very cautious birds are frightened by the slightest rustling.
They rarely nest near human dwellings.
The presence of a black woodpecker is evidenced from afar by a frequent knock on a dry branch, as well as its loud sounds. Zhelnu can be heard more often than seen. The black woodpecker deftly climbs tree trunks, clinging to the bark with strong claws - they especially help the bird when looking for food.
While hollowing out a hollow and hunting for insects, the black woodpecker clings to the bark with its claws and rests on a stiff tail. Looking for food, the yellow woodpecker constantly flies from one tree to another, while making characteristic cries.
- Zhelna drinks the rain water that accumulates in the depressions on the bark of old trees and in their hollows.
- The black woodpecker was observed in the mountains of Tibet at an altitude of 4000 m above sea level.
- Under the feathers of an adult woodpecker, there is no fluff. The feathers of this woodpecker are very stiff, pointed at the ends. The hard tail creates a reliable support during the gouging of the hollow.
The awn of individual integumentary feathers, composed in the form of a tile, is also rigid.
- The nostrils of most species of woodpeckers are covered with tufts of feathers, which creates protection from wood dust and dust getting inside.
- The jellyfish, compared to other birds, has very tough skin, which protects the bird from insect bites, in particular carpenter ants, on which it mainly feeds.
- The zhelna usually spends from 10 to 17 days to hollow out the hollow.
- At the end of a long tongue, the gall has 4-5 pairs of needle-shaped taste buds.
That's what insects stick to. Thus, the woodpecker extracts them from the holes in the bark.
DESCRIPTION
adult bird: the size of a crow; the plumage is black, the eyes and beak are lighter.
The male has a red top of the head, and the female has a red nape.
Hollow: located at a height of 7-15 m from the ground, spacious, with a characteristic oval or rectangular hole.
- Zhelny habitat
WHERE Dwells
Zhelna lives in Eurasia everywhere: from the north of Spain and the Scandinavian Peninsula to Japan.
PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION
Zhelna is very shy and cautious. Preference is given not to coniferous, but to deciduous forests. The bird is distributed throughout its range.
Great black woodpecker (Zelna). Video (00:03:00)
Biryulevsky arboretum, August 2013.
Great black woodpecker-Zhelna.2.03.12. Video (00:02:16)
This beautiful black woodpecker was found in a park in the south-east of Moscow.
Every day this spring of 2012 we went for a walk and heard beautiful, straight from the rainforest, singing. Always wondering who is this? Tracked down and saw that it was a big black woodpecker Zhelna. It was very high, our video camera is not perfect, but nevertheless we managed to film how the woodpecker knocks on the trunk, loudly and invitingly. It's a pity we couldn't film his singing.
Woodpecker Woodpecker, he is a black woodpecker, he is yellow. Video (00:03:44)
Elektrostal woodpecker squeaks and picks a tree
Black woodpecker (zhelna). Video (00:03:47)
08/12/2012, Nizhny Novgorod region, Bor district
Black Woodpecker Woodpecker Dryocopus martius. Video (00:00:46)
Black Woodpecker. Our largest woodpecker is the yellow woodpecker or black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius).
The amusing appearance of the bird is complemented by its manner of peeking out from behind a tree (with such a long neck, this is not difficult).
Zhelny is characterized by well-developed vocal communication. His voice is very harsh. In flight, the jelna emits an uneven trill, and while sitting on a tree - drawling cries. The voice of the zhelny can be heard almost all year round. In the spring, during the current period, this ‘song’ accompanies the drumming. During the incubation of eggs, the male and female exchange vocal signals, replacing each other in the nest. When feeding the chicks, the parents announce their approach from afar, and the hungry offspring answer them with a deafening din.
By nature, she is a loner. It lives mainly in old mixed or coniferous forests. On its territory, the zhelna has up to a dozen hollows, but at the same time actively uses 2-3. Most often, aspen is chosen for the hollow, somewhat less often - pine.
Usually the hollow is located at a height of 10-20 m above the ground, but sometimes it can also be at a height of 3 m. - up to half a meter.
Ants play a significant role in the diet of the black woodpecker. Almost exclusively with ants, he also feeds the chicks. Another notable part of its menu is various bark beetles, lumberjacks, borers, barbels, horntails, and other wood-dwelling forest pests. In search of these insects, the zhelna crushes old rotten stumps, clears bark and crushes dry trees affected by pests.
As the largest and strongest woodpecker, it can reach insects that others cannot reach. And it feeds on insects all year round, only slightly diversifying its table with berries. The current at the zhelny begins in early spring. Already in early to mid-April, you can hear the characteristic drum roll (almost 20 beats per second!) And screams. Knocking and screaming both males and females. There is no litter in the hollow, the bottom is covered only with chips, on which the female lays 3-5 white eggs.
Incubation lasts very little even for woodpeckers - 12-13 days. The chicks live in the hollow for about a month and stay with their parents for about a month after leaving the nest (somewhere in mid-June). Both parents incubate and feed the chicks.
Protvino Moscow region Russia
The woodpecker is black. Zhelna. Brateevograd.wmv. Video (00:00:51)
In the Maryinskaya and Brateevskaya floodplains, they are found during autumn movements along the banks of the Moskva River.
Yellow woodpecker was observed near the mouth of the Plintovka river. There is an interesting ravine, which is chosen by almost all types of woodpeckers in the area.
Zhelna is a black woodpecker. Video (00:01:04)
Svetlogorsk, Belarus, 08.09.2012.
Zhelna is a black woodpecker. Video (00:00:14)
Dryocopus Martius Black Woodpecker Zhelna Moscow. Video (00:01:22)
Black woodpecker. Video (00:01:26)
Zhelna, knowing the carnivorous inclinations of the squirrel, attacked her when she climbed to the very top of the pine tree. After a noisy fight, which, unfortunately, was hidden by the branches, the woodpecker sat on a nearby tree and controlled the actions of the squirrel for a long time.
He probably has a nest around here somewhere.
Zhelna, or black woodpecker is considered one of the largest birds belonging to the woodpecker family. This bird lives throughout Europe, except for the southern part. For its habitat, the black woodpecker needs tall trees.
The appearance of the yellow
Zhelna, or black woodpecker is considered a large bird, the length reaches 50 cm, and weighs about 300 grams. A thin neck, a large head and rounded wings, this is what distinguishes the yellow from other birds of the woodpecker family. A massive yellow-gray beak up to 6 cm long gives a special appearance to the bird. It is not in vain that Zhelna is called the Black Woodpecker, since the color of the bird is jet black. As a rule, males differ from females in a red cap of feathers, while females are usually completely black.
Black woodpecker lifestyle
By eating harmful insects, the black woodpecker benefits the forest. Eating all the insects in its path, Zhelna hollows them out of the bark of a tree, and if the tree is severely affected by larvae, the woodpecker knocks down the bark and extracts insects from there. It is not uncommon for a zhelna to completely leave a tree without bark.
A rectangular hole in a tree may be a sign that a black woodpecker has found something especially tasty in it, either a large larva, or a pupa of a barbel beetle, or a nest of carpenter ants.
Listen to the voice of the black woodpecker
What does the black woodpecker eat?
The diet of the black woodpecker consists of insects and larvae. Lumberjack beetles, bark beetles, goldfish are considered a delicacy. In addition to everything, the zhelna does not disdain ants, caterpillars and horntail larvae. A woodpecker eats about 600 larvae per day. In winter, it is able to feed on the seeds of coniferous trees, but in small quantities.
While searching for food, the woodpecker is able to gouge a rotten stump and remove the bark from a dead tree, thereby leaving deep footprints. To get to the ants, the black woodpecker has to gouge passages up to half a meter deep. The tongue of a black woodpecker is able to stretch only 5-6 cm, but a sticky substance that is secreted with saliva allows it to get food.
Reproduction of the black woodpecker
Zhelna, or the black woodpecker, leads a solitary lifestyle, the mating period, which usually occurs in early March, is considered an exception. Males emit a call and knock loudly on a tree in order to attract females, their call is heard at a short distance. After the mating process, the birds hollow out a hollow and settle in it. It is not uncommon for the zhelny not to change the hollow for several years in a row, but if the hollow is already occupied, the birds have to take care of their housing again.
The male zhelny has a more pronounced red "cap" on the head. The male is most often engaged in gouging the hollow, the female at this moment is watching his work. Most often, a black woodpecker chooses a pine, spruce or other trees over 9-10 m high for its dwelling. over 10 cm.
These are the birds that do not use nest litter, so the females lay their eggs just on the bottom. The female lays 3 to 5 eggs at a time. Hatching does not take much time, and after 12-15 days chicks appear, which weigh about 9 grams. The first 2-4 weeks the cubs spend in the nest, receiving food from their parents. Grown up chicks begin to demand food, protruding from the nest and making a loud cry.
Even when the chicks leave the nest, adults feed their young for some time and also train them.
Although, of course, modern people often have a slightly different association with amazing forest birds - woodpeckers - annoying and annoying in some human characters is often compared with our today's feathered hero. In fact, woodpeckers are not annoying birds at all, but very useful ones, it’s not for nothing that our observant ancestors called the woodpecker “forest doctor”, in fairy tales he often acts as a kind, stubborn and hardworking character, however, he is like that in nature, a real "friend of the trees" After all, tirelessly pecking them with his beak, at the same time he cleans the trees from various insects harmful to them: termites, aphids, etc.
Woodpecker: description, structure, characteristics. What does a woodpecker look like?
The woodpecker family includes a large group of birds known for their ability to peck trees with their beaks. Close relatives of woodpeckers are also toucans, beards and honeyguides.
The body length of a woodpecker is on average 25 cm, the average weight of a woodpecker is 100 g, although, of course, there are exceptions, as there are larger species of woodpeckers, such as the American royal woodpecker, which has almost 60 cm in length and weighs 600 g. And the most a small golden woodpecker, almost similar in size to, its length is only 8 cm and weighs 7 grams.
The body of the woodpecker seems to be somewhat elongated, thanks to the average length of the tail and the head, continuing the length of the body. The woodpecker's beak is chisel-shaped, it is also sharp and durable. The nostrils of woodpeckers are protected by special villi that prevent wood shavings from getting inside during chiselling. As well as the skull of woodpeckers, it has a special porous structure that protects the brain of birds from concussion.
The wings of the woodpecker are of medium length and, moreover, sharp, such a structure of their wings helps these forest birds to easily maneuver between the trees. The wingspan of a woodpecker is 45-49 cm.
Woodpecker in flight.
The paws of the woodpecker are short and four-toed (with the exception of the three-toed woodpecker), two fingers are directed forward and two back, a similar structure of the woodpecker's paws helps him to confidently stay on the vertical surfaces of trees and move along them.
The plumage of the woodpecker is rigid and fits snugly to the body. The color of woodpeckers is very diverse, everything already depends on the type of a particular bird, there are woodpeckers with chess black and white flowers, motley, red, golden.
Where does the woodpecker live
Woodpeckers live almost all over the globe, with the exception of Antarctica and Australia. And since woodpeckers are forest birds, they live in forest areas, respectively, whether it be taiga or tropical rainforests. Although there are species of woodpeckers that, instead of trees, may well settle, for example, in large cacti.
How long does a woodpecker live
The life expectancy of woodpeckers depends on their species, the largest long-liver among woodpeckers is the sovereign woodpecker, this representative of the woodpecker family can live up to 30 years. The most common spotted woodpecker lives on average 10-11 years. There are species of woodpeckers (for example, green woodpecker) whose lifespan is no more than 7 years.
What does a woodpecker eat and why does a woodpecker knock on a tree
In fact, the woodpecker's nutrition and its "brand" woodpecker are directly related to each other. Yes, woodpeckers get their own food in such a simple way. The basis of their nutrition is various insects and larvae that live in the bowels of trees: termites, ants, aphids, bark beetles. Moreover, what is interesting is that such activity of woodpeckers also benefits trees, because these birds save them from pests.
As trees for chiselling, woodpeckers always unmistakably choose just such diseased trees infected with pests, which is why they called our feathered hero the “forest doctor”. How do woodpeckers recognize such trees? The fact is that nature has endowed these birds with very subtle hearing, and woodpeckers are able to hear the slightest creak made by the stings of pests inside the trees.
But back to the nutrition of woodpeckers, in addition to harmful insects, woodpeckers are not averse to eating berries, plant seeds, nuts extracted from cones of coniferous trees.
Enemies of woodpeckers
The woodpeckers themselves, in turn, can become prey for some other birds of prey: falcons, owls and. Their enemies in natural conditions are also snakes, martens and some other predators.
Woodpecker lifestyle
Woodpeckers are sedentary birds, that is, they live mainly in the same territory. They often live alone and only in the nesting period are kept in pairs male + female.
Woodpeckers spend most of their time studying trees for the presence of insects that are so delicious for these birds. Flying from tree to tree, the woodpecker first sits down, and then gradually begins to rise up. Woodpeckers practically do not descend to the ground, in general, they do not feel comfortable on horizontal surfaces, where a vertical posture on a tree is more familiar to them, by the way, in this position, woodpeckers even sleep at night.
The means of communication for woodpeckers is a drum roll beaten out by their beaks, it (the shot) also serves to mark the boundaries of the territory of a particular woodpecker and to attract a partner during the mating season.
Types of woodpeckers, photos and names
In total, there are more than 200 species of woodpeckers in nature, below we will describe the most interesting of them.
Despite its name, the large sharp-winged woodpecker is not so big, its length is 14-16 cm, weight 20-30 grams. It has a variegated color, the males have several red feathers on the sides. Lives in East and Southeast Asia.
He is a large motley woodpecker, is the most common representative of the woodpecker family. It lives in a wide geographical area, it is almost the whole of Eurasia, from the forests of England to the forests of Japan. These woodpeckers are also introduced in our Ukrainian forests. They can be distinguished by color, the spotted woodpecker has black and white colors, which are combined with a bright red undertail, which gives the bird a motley appearance. Some woodpeckers of this species also have a red head, such a “little red riding hood”.
Initially, the Syrian woodpecker was distributed exclusively in the Middle East, but in the Middle Ages these birds penetrated both the Balkans and Eastern Europe (including these woodpeckers also live on the territory of Ukraine). In its appearance and habits, it is very similar to the common woodpecker, it differs only in a number of small differences: a longer beak, on the sides of the belly, the Syrian woodpecker has developed streaks. Also, the common spotted woodpecker has two white spots between the eye and the shoulder, while the Syrian woodpecker has these two spots merged into one large one.
This is another woodpecker that lives in the forest zone of Eurasia. It is of medium size, its body length is 26-31 cm and its weight is 100-130 g. It also differs from other woodpeckers by a slightly longer neck and an angular head. The upper part of the back of these woodpeckers is black, the lower part is white. Also, the males have a red cap on the smut, while the females have a black one.
This woodpecker is distinguished by its reddish belly coloration, hence its name. Also known as the red-necked woodpecker. This type of woodpecker lives in Southeast Asia. It is a very small representative of the woodpecker family, its body length is 200-250 mm, weight 50-70 g.
Black woodpecker (Zelna)
Also known as the great black woodpecker, one of the largest representatives of woodpeckers, its body length is 42-49 cm, with a weight of 250-450 g. It also lives in the forest zone of Eurasia, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. This woodpecker is very easy to identify by its appearance: a bird with black plumage and a red cap on its head will be a black woodpecker.
Woodpecker breeding
The mating season for woodpeckers begins in the spring. During this period, males begin to actively lure females with their trills. When their pairs are already formed, the birds begin to build a nesting cavity, and they work in turn. The place where their chicks are destined to be born is carefully masked by branches from predators.
The female woodpecker has from 3 to 7 eggs, which she incubates for 15 days. Then chicks, small woodpeckers, begin to hatch from them, they are completely helpless: naked, blind and deaf. But already during the first month they are covered with feathers, begin to see clearly and very much even squeal. While not yet able to fly, they can nevertheless actively run along the trunk. A year later, woodpeckers become sexually mature adult birds.
- The great spotted woodpecker is able to knock on the hollow with an amazing speed - 20 beats per second.
- In 2006, one of the Ig Nobel Prizes (the opposite of Nobel Prizes, these prizes are awarded for unnecessary and meaningless scientific discoveries) was awarded to an ornithologist from California for his work "Why the woodpecker does not have a headache."
- A woodpecker is capable of eating 1000 ants at one time.
woodpecker video
And in conclusion, we offer you to look at the woodpecker in the wild, listen to its trill.
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