Picus sharpei
Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on John Cox's illustration · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The Iberian green woodpecker (Picus sharpei) is a medium-sized woodpecker endemic to the Iberian peninsula. It was formerly considered as a subspecies of the European green woodpecker but differs in having little black on the head and a dusky rather than a black ring around each eye. Its sound has been described as sibilant, or hiss-like.
The Iberian green woodpecker was described by Howard Saunders in 1872 and given the binomial name Gecinus sharpei. He chose the specific epithet to honour his friend, the English zoologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe, who he credited with first distinguishing it from the European green woodpecker (Picus viridis) and Levaillant's woodpecker (Picus vaillantii). The Iberian green woodpecker was usually treated as a subspecies of the European green woodpecker but two separate studies published in 2011 found that there were significant differences in both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences between the two populations. Based on these results the Iberian green woodpecker is now considered as a separate species. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
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| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 4 | Picos de Europa National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 7 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 8 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report an Iberian Green Woodpecker sighting in Madrid on a given day, based on 8,503 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 10th most-seen of the 196 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.
August and September
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report an Iberian Green Woodpecker in Madrid on a given day, against about 60% in October to July, the lowest months. Those are among Madrid's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain a month against 65 mm in October.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Iberian Green Woodpecker sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Yes
Of the 4 cities where we can rate Iberian Green Woodpecker sightings, Madrid has the highest daily chance: about 60%. Next come Porto (Portugal, about 10%) and Barcelona (Spain, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Iberian Green Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Madrid (8,503 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.
