Cyn's Nature Notes: Great Spotted Woodpeckers

Friday 27 April 2012

Great Spotted Woodpeckers

The new square fat treat is still the birds favourite, they even choose it over the peanut and seed hanging treats and easily over the round fat balls that I have used for years.

Very welcome visitors to the square fat treats are the great spotted woodpeckers. We have always enjoyed seeing them in the garden on various trees, old logs or the wood pile, but since we added the square fat treat to one of the bird feeding stations, they have been a regular visitor to it.

Through the years we have watched lesser spotted woodpeckers, (although not as many now), green woodpeckers which are a daily visitor to the lawns, and especially welcome when they come with their young and last but not least, great spotted woodpeckers.

Watch out for the distinguishing marks on the head of the great spotted woodpecker, once I learned to identify them it added a new dimension to seeing them. There isn't much to it, the female has an entirely black and white head, the male has a patch of red at the back of his head in the neck area, and the juvenile has a red top to his head.

Having enjoyed these birds so much I decided to research them and looked on several sites, I found much of interest, especially on the R.S.P.B. and the B.T.O. sites. I read that great spotted woodpeckers eat other bird's eggs and nestlings. I suppose I should have known that fact, because not only have I found nesting boxes with holes made in them but have also seen great spotted woodpeckers drumming on bird boxes. They will also eat marsh and willow tits, and the fall in the number of lesser spotted woodpeckers in recent years may also be due to the predation of them by their larger cousin.

I was sad to read that many young great spotted woodpeckers die through crashing into windows, I know this happens to many birds and have seen thrushes and chaffinches suffer the same fate. A friend has been particularly upset on finding kingfishers dead on her patio, where they have collided with her window. I think it is likely to happen where trees and shrubs are reflected in the glass.

I always stop and listen when I hear the drumming of a great spotted woodpecker and try to work out from which direction it is coming. Both male and female drum, an unpaired male may drum as much as 600 times a day, whereas a paired male may only drum 200 times. Interestingly the timber resonating is not caused so much by the heavy knock of the drumming but rather the correct frequency of the knocks, which is 10 - 40 strikes per second. They are protected from damage to themselves by a shock absorbent area of tissue at the back of the skull.

The nest is excavated jointly by both male and female in a tree trunk and a layer of wood chips serves as the resting place of the eggs. There are 4 - 7 glossy white eggs laid and they are incubated by both parents for 12 - 18 days (or 10 - 13 days depending which site one reads), the nestlings fledge after18 - 21 days.

The life span of these strikingly beautiful birds can be as long as 10 years.

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About this Blog

When we moved to our present home in December 1987, I was very ill and bedridden. My garden was a life-saver, although it was very different then. The first thing I did was to put up bird-feeders, and long hours were spent lying indoors in a recliner. This was when I discovered many things. Do you know the underside of every blue tit’s tail is differently marked? Gradually, over the years, the garden changed. We put in shrubs and plants that would not only enhance the garden, but would also be good for wildlife. The first rabbit we saw was so joyful for us. The deer eat the flowers, prune the apple trees, eat the marrow, and are wonderful to watch. Foxes have been a major part of our wildlife. We have fed them each night for more than 20 years. They are such a delight, especially in late summer and early autumn when there are youngsters. They behave like puppies and are great fun to watch.

I love all wildlife: the mason bees that nest in the brickwork of the bungalow, the hornets that last year made their home in the roof above our bedroom, the bees currently nesting in the roof above the bathroom. On a hot evening, if you stand quietly in the bathroom, you can hear this amazing sound: it is very rhythmic and reminds me of the waves at the seaside. It is made by the beating of the bees’ wings as they fan their nest to keep the temperature at the right level -- how many people have heard that sound? I feel so privileged.

Obviously, I feed the birds. When I open the window in the morning I call “Come on Bobby and Blackie”, and one followed swiftly by the other they fly immediately to the bird table. Each morning, on rising, I make my way to the kitchen and find the squirrels already sitting on the window ledge waiting to be fed. Winter brings the moorhens and spring time the mallards. Our pond is a poor effort from a human point of view, but wild creatures see it differently. On summer days, the grass snakes spend long hours in the pond: eating the fish, froglets, toadlings, newts, and any other living creature they can swallow. Although I hate to see the pond emptied this way, I do enjoy the snakes and feel they are an important part of the balance of nature in the garden. Watching a dragonfly nymph climbing out of the pond, up a plant stalk, and then over the next few hours gradually transforming into a beautiful dragonfly -- these are contented hours well spent.

It has been my pleasure to write and publish a nature column each month. I am always delighted to hear how much pleasure this brings to my readers. I have often been asked if I have written a book, so I am making more of my writings and photography available through this web site and blog.