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February 17th

 Grey-headed woodpecker.

 

Today I only made a short trip to the forests around Tartu. I checked places to go listening in the night in the owl season that is beginning soon. I didn’t meet any particular birds but as the  112^th species in my year list I found the grey-headed woodpecker. I have been looking for this one in dozens of places this year but surprisingly I found this quite common species only in mid-February.

 

Now only the green woodpecker is missing for me out of the eight woodpeckers in Estonia. But finding it is not easy. In recent years it has almost disappeared from mainland Estonia and it can be regularly seen only on Saaremaa. Messages about green woodpeckers come regularly from the mainland but on checking they have generally turned out to be grey-headed woodpeckers. The grey-headed woodpecker is green too and so the species are often confused.

 

There is more to read about identifying woodpeckers in an Estonian Museum of Natural History 2010 booklet with tips for enthusiasts in different areas of natural history (in Estonian).