Gray-haired woodpecker - description, habitat, interesting facts

The family of woodpeckers concentrates hundreds of species of individuals, including the gray-haired woodpecker. In today's material, we consider a bird with a gray head, which has the same name.

Description and distribution

1. As the name implies, the description of the head is not difficult. It is gray in color, like gray. The chest with the neck and the lower part of the body is pigmented with a gray-green shade. The feathers of the wings, the back with the tail of a similar color, but slightly darker, literally half a tone.
2. When an individual is in flight, she sees green-yellow feathers in the area under the tail. In the area of ​​the beak there are so-called whiskers, which extend to the cheeks.
3. Representatives of the male half in the area of ​​the temechka present a spot of red. In females this feature is absent, however, according to this criterion, people distinguish the former from the latter.
4. An interesting feature of these birds is that they do not have different outfits depending on the period of the year. It can only be said that the young birds are not as bright as the adults. On the lateral parts they have mottled, and the mustache is spread from the beak to the cheeks.
5. In the younger generation in the frontal part there is a spot, pigmented red. These individuals differ from green woodpeckers in that they do not have a mask in the eye area, and the antennae are thin and inconspicuous, and their dimensions are slightly smaller.
6. These birds are more common in Eurasia, they prefer forests and the Atlantic coast. Also there are individuals off the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Find them in Finland, Norway, in the open spaces of our country. Birds, by their nature of stay, are sedentary, only in severe cold can they move to warm climatic regions.
7. Individuals live in Indonesia, near Russia and directly on the territory of the state. Vast populations were recorded in the Voronezh, Rostov, Volgograd regions, as well as in the Crimea and Karelia. In the region of Orenburg and Bryansk, the population is small.

Lifestyle

1. By their natural features, birds prefer to live in leafy and mixed zones. They need open areas like meadows, glades, cutting sites.
2. When the breeding season has not yet begun or has already come to a conclusion, the birds can move to cities and towns. They begin to gouge holes in wooden houses, and also look for holes in brick structures.
3. In the flattering terrain, they make hollows for themselves in alder, aspen, and other trees of deciduous type. To facilitate the task choose those instances of vegetation, in which the wood is already dying.
4. When the nest building period begins, the birds do it together. Together they incubate, feed the chicks and take care of them. Kids, in turn, are born blind and without feathers.

Nutrition

1. The basis of the diet consists of insect larvae and directly bugs, worms, and other pests of nature. Birds of large earthen ants, red ants, termites eat. Due to the presence of a strong and strong beak, woodpeckers can break the ground in search of food. When they find an anthill, they instantly push a beak into it and absorb insects.
2. These birds have a long and sticky tongue that can crawl into various insect labyrinths and reach for them. Another part of the basic food consists of beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, locust. They can get worms from the ground and trees, they also eat spiders.
3. In spring, these individuals consume maple sap, which stands out from the trees. Since these birds have a thin beak, they are not very fond of chipping trees, therefore, they do this inconsistently. But when they do it, they give preference to old and sick trees with damaged bark. So birds get insects and larvae, in particular in winter time.
4. When autumn comes, the diet becomes more diverse, food of plant origin is connected to it. Birds are engaged in gathering fruits fallen from the trees. They love to feast on cherries, apples, pears. Also lean on nuts and acorns, berries in the forest.
5. In the winter, the larvae and insects are taken from the bark, as mentioned earlier. In addition, birds visit special feeders created by man in the territory of urban settlements and villages. To feed these individuals prefer one by one.

Breeding

1. As soon as the individuals in question reach 1 year of life, they begin a period of puberty. If in warm regions the winter is rather mild, then marriage singing and the fraction of males with the call of females already begins to be heard in early February. Birds living in the European part begin the mating season in early March.
2. At this time, you can hear a long and melodious whistle that can not be confused with anything else. At the same time, females begin to respond to males. Only their sounds are rather hoarse and intermittent. Depending on the habitat, the voice of individuals may differ slightly.
3. As soon as the birds begin to overcurrent, the males show increased activity. They can often fly even to other areas to find a companion. Because of this characteristic, the number of birds is relatively small. Despite the fact that the range of their distribution is quite large.
4. When a pair is formed, individuals find a suitable place for themselves. Before breeding, more mating games are required. When the male cares for the female, he makes short flights, which are accompanied by loud clapping wings. Also, ritual feeding of her darling takes place.

These birds belong to the woodpecker squad and are famous for their ability to smash the bark of trees. Interesting facts include the fact that woodpeckers do not live out their time to the end, they die from concussion.

Video: White-headed Woodpecker (Picus canus)