Animalia Life

Picus canus
SUBFAMILY
Picinae
TAXONOMY
Picus canus Gmelin, 1788. Hybridization with Eurasian green woodpecker known. Eleven subspecies recognized.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Gray-headed woodpecker, gray-headed green woodpecker, ashy woodpecker, black-naped woodpecker; French: Pic cendrй; German: Grauspecht; Spanish: Pito Cano.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
10.2–13.0 in (26–33 cm), 3.9–7.3 oz (110–206 g); back olive green, yellow-green rump, gray head, narrow black “moustache,” breast light gray-green; male with small red patch on lower forehead; female without red.
DISTRIBUTION
Central and eastern Europe through central Asia to Himalayas; Southeast Asia through China, Manchuria, Korea, Hokkaido, Hainan, Taiwan, Sumatra. Subspecies can be divided into two major groups: 2 subspecies found in northern Eurasia; 9 found in southeast and east Asia.
HABITAT
Found in a great diversity of forest habitats: moist bottomland forest to open park-like, to uplands with many conifers.
BEHAVIOR
Monogamous, normally solitary; territorial during breeding. Often winters in riparian areas and closer to humans; some nomadic winter movements.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Diet is mostly ants and termites and their brood, but also includes other arthropods, fruit, nuts, nectar, and eggs of other birds; in many areas it especially frequents old aspen trees.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Nest cavity in decayed wood excavated by both sexes; clutch of 4–9 white eggs incubated by both parents for 14–17 days; young cared for by both parents (rarely by a helper); fledge at 23–27 days.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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