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We often meet the greyheaded woodpecker in city parks. Mostly people guess – because of the colour of its plumage – that it is the green woodpecker, but actually the greyheaded woodpecker is clearly more numerous, and the winterers may be between six thousand and fifteen thousand birds.
The star of our story today is smaller than the green woodpecker, its head is more grey and it has narrow stripe, like a beard, along its cheek. The juveniles are lighter-coloured. Only the male bird has a red forehead.
It is easy to describe details, but quite another thing to see them in nature, having to do with a very shy bird. Often the birds play hide-and-seek with the observer. If you notice a bird in action, it moves so it is hidden behind the tree trunk and carries on with its business there. You try to get into a new position, quietly – the story repeats itself. Very annoying for a photographer.