Middle Spotted Woodpecker

Habitat: The middle spotted woodpecker is not as adaptable as its larger relative. It originally needed forests with lots of rotten wood. That is why the species has declined everywhere. Nowadays, it is a characteristic bird species of oak and hornbeam forests, and it also breeds in mixed deciduous forests with soft woods.

Appearance: The Middle Spotted Woodpecker is a resident bird in temperate Europe. In Belgium and the Netherlands, it is a rare breeding bird, a year bird and a winter visitor in small to fairly small numbers.

Breeding season: April to August, cavity nester – it usually builds its nest in a diseased tree trunk. It also sometimes hacks the entrance from below into a sloping to almost horizontal branch. The entrance hole has a diameter of approx. 40 mm and is usually no higher than 3.5 m above the ground. 5 to 6 eggs.

Characteristics: Length 19.5 – 22 cm, wingspan approx. 34 cm, weight 50 – 85 grams, age 8 years.

Food: The middle spotted woodpecker is a restless bird. It rarely drums and is more of a pecking and searching bird, even performing acrobatic feats on thin twigs in a tit-like manner. It can also stick its tongue out to four times the length of its beak to fish insect larvae out of their burrows. The Middle Spotted Woodpecker is considered a resident bird, but in winter it also appears in areas where it never breeds.