Dendrocopos leucotos
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~60%
The white-backed woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos) is a Eurasian woodpecker belonging to the genus Dendrocopos. The white-backed woodpecker was described by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1802 under the binomial name Picus leucotos. The specific epithet leucotos combines the Classical Greek leukos meaning "white" and -nōtos meaning "-backed". The type locality is Silesia, a historical region mainly located in Poland. The species is now placed in the genus Dendrocopos that was introduced by the German naturalist Carl Ludwig Koch in 1816.
Twelve subspecies are recognised. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 2 | Plitvice Lakes National Park | 🇭🇷 Croatia | |
| 3 | Nikko National Park | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 4 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 5 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 6 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Gauja National Park | 🇱🇻 Latvia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | Kazan | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 3 | Sapporo | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 4 | Moscow | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 5 | Daejeon | 🇰🇷 South Korea | |
| 6 | Busan | 🇰🇷 South Korea | |
| 7 | Yekaterinburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 8 | Saint Petersburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 9 | Seoul | 🇰🇷 South Korea | |
| 10 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a White-backed Woodpecker sighting in Nikko National Park on a given day, based on 53 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 52nd most-seen of the 102 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a White-backed Woodpecker in Nikko National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July, the lowest month.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-backed 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 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate White-backed Woodpecker sightings, Nikko National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Białowieża National Park (Poland, about 30%) and Plitvice Lakes National Park (Croatia, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-backed Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Nikko National Park (53 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
