Black woodpecker: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the black woodpecker lives – recorded in 35 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Dryocopus martius
Group	Woodpeckers, kingfishers, hornbills & toucans
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	35 countries
Continents	Asia, Europe
Mass	11.8 g (birth weight)
Class	Bird
Order	Piciformes
Family	Picidae

Where does the black woodpecker live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the black woodpecker in 35 countries and territories across Asia and Europe. In Belgium, France, Netherlands it is listed as introduced (GRIIS checklists via GBIF).

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

How big is a black woodpecker?

Wikidata records the following for the black woodpecker: mass 11.8 g (birth weight).

Is the black woodpecker endangered?

The black woodpecker’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the black woodpecker?

The black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius) is a bird in the order Piciformes and the family Picidae, genus Dryocopus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the black woodpecker

The black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius) is a large woodpecker that lives in mature forests across the northern Palearctic. It is the sole representative of its genus in that region, and its range is expanding. The black woodpecker is easily the largest woodpecker species in Europe as well as in the portion of Asia where it lives and is one of the largest species worldwide. This non-migratory species tends to make its home in old-growth forest or large forest stands and excavates a large tree hole to reside in. In turn, several species rely on black woodpeckers to secondarily reside in the holes made in trees by them. This woodpecker's diet consists mostly of carpenter ants. This species is closely related to, and fills the same ecological niche in Europe as, the pileated woodpecker of North America and the lineated woodpecker of South America, also being similar to the white-bellied woodpecker which is distributed to the south somewhat of the black woodpecker in Asia.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Black woodpecker (revision 1357539071), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q143284 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).