Dendrocopos syriacus
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The Syrian woodpecker (Dendrocopos syriacus) is a member of the woodpecker family, the Picidae. The Syrian woodpecker was first described as Picus syriacus by Wilhelm Hemprich and Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg in 1833, from a specimen collected on Mount Lebanon.
The woodpecker is a resident breeding bird from southeastern Europe east to Iran. Its range has expanded further northwest into Europe in recent years. It is an inhabitant of open woodlands, cultivation with trees and scrubs, and parks, depending for food and nesting sites upon old trees. It is often an inconspicuous bird, in spite of the plumage.
The woodpecker is 23 cm (9.1 in) long, and is very similar to the great spotted woodpecker, Dendrocopos major. The upper parts of the male are glossy black, with a crimson spot on the nape and white on the forehead, sides of the face and neck. On the shoulder is a large white patch and the flight feathers are black with white spots forming three wingbars. The three outer tail feathers show only a few white spots; these show when the short stiff tail is outspread, acting as a support in climbing. The under parts are... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 2 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 3 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary |
No species of the same family or order lives in Karaj, so these are its closest relatives here: other birds.
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Syrian Woodpecker sighting in Karaj on a given day, based on 60 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 10th most-seen of the 43 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Syrian Woodpecker in Karaj on a given day, against about 40% in May, the lowest month. That is one of Karaj's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 80 mm in November. August has too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Syrian Woodpecker sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 24
Of the 24 cities where we can rate Syrian Woodpecker sightings, Karaj ranks 3rd at about 60%. The best odds are in Jerusalem (Israel, about 80%) and Ramallah (Palestine, about 70%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Syrian Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Karaj (60 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
