Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Dryobates minor

Silhouette: Aliaksandr Micianin · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Kyiv

In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%

74 Verified sightings at Kyiv
1,350 In all 17 parks From 2019 to 2026
February Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

The lesser spotted woodpecker (Dryobates minor) is a member of the woodpecker family Picidae. It was formerly assigned to the genus Dendrocopos (sometimes incorrectly spelt as Dendrocopus). Some taxonomic authorities continue to list the species there.

The range of the lesser spotted woodpecker is the Palearctic region, but several subspecies are recognised. The lesser spotted woodpecker was listed by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Picus minor. Linnaeus specified the locality as Europe but this is now restricted to Sweden. The species was moved to the genus Dendrocopos by the German naturalist Carl Ludwig Koch in 1816. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2015 based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences found that the species placed in the genus Dendrocopos did not form a monophyletic group. In the revised generic classification, the lesser spotted woodpecker was placed in the resurrected genus Dryobates, that had originally been introduced by the German naturalist Friedrich Boie in 1826. The genus name Dryobates is from the Ancient Greek druos meaning woodland and batēs meaning... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:17

France · 2026

© Thierry THOMAS · XC1186856 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Drumming0:28

Sweden · 2026

© Lars Edenius · XC1085630 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:14

Italy · 2022

© Francesco Sottile · XC711601 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Białowieża National Park 🇵🇱 Poland
~20%
2 Kiskunság National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
~10%
3 Biebrza National Park 🇵🇱 Poland
~10%
4 Monfragüe National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
~10%
5 Sierra de Guadarrama National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
~10%
6 Fertő-Hanság National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
<5%
7 Plitvice Lakes National Park 🇭🇷 Croatia
<5%
8 Doñana National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
<5%
9 Gauja National Park 🇱🇻 Latvia
<5%
10 Camargue 🇫🇷 France
<5%
11 Bavarian Forest National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
<5%
12 Cévennes National Park 🇫🇷 France
<5%
13 Pyrénées National Park 🇫🇷 France
<5%
14 Hortobágy National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
<5%
15 Tatra National Park 🇸🇰 Slovakia
<5%
16 Triglav National Park 🇸🇮 Slovenia
<5%
17 Aigüestortes National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Ulaanbaatar 🇲🇳 Mongolia
~30%
2 Novosibirsk 🇷🇺 Russia
~20%
3 Kazan 🇷🇺 Russia
~10%
4 Istanbul 🇹🇷 Turkey
~10%
5 Helsinki 🇫🇮 Finland
~10%
6 Budapest 🇭🇺 Hungary
~10%
7 Moscow 🇷🇺 Russia
~10%
8 Kyiv 🇺🇦 Ukraine
~10%
9 Rome 🇮🇹 Italy
~10%
10 Minsk 🇧🇾 Belarus
~10%

Zoos & Centres Where Found

# Zoo / Centre Country
1 Alpenzoo Innsbruck 🇦🇹 Austria In captivity

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in Kyiv?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker sighting in Kyiv on a given day, based on 74 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 68th most-seen of the 164 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in Kyiv?

April, August and November–February

In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in Kyiv on a given day, against under 5% in March, May–July and September–October, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker?

Between 7 and 10 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Lesser Spotted 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.

Is Kyiv the best place to see a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker?

8th of 27

Of the 27 cities where we can rate Lesser Spotted Woodpecker sightings, Kyiv ranks 8th at about 10%. The best odds are in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia, about 30%), Novosibirsk (Russia, about 20%) and Kazan (Russia, about 10%).

Where does the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Kyiv (74 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.

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