Dryobates minor
Silhouette: Aliaksandr Micianin · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
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 →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 2 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 3 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 4 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 6 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 7 | Plitvice Lakes National Park | 🇭🇷 Croatia | |
| 8 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Gauja National Park | 🇱🇻 Latvia | |
| 10 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 11 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 12 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 13 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 14 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 15 | Tatra National Park | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | |
| 16 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 17 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ulaanbaatar | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 2 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 3 | Kazan | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 4 | Istanbul | 🇹🇷 Turkey | |
| 5 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 6 | Budapest | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 7 | Moscow | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 8 | Kyiv | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 9 | Rome | 🇮🇹 Italy | |
| 10 | Minsk | 🇧🇾 Belarus |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alpenzoo Innsbruck | 🇦🇹 Austria |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker sighting in Plitvice Lakes National Park on a given day, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 59th most-seen of the 76 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July to September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in Plitvice Lakes National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–June and October–November, the lowest months. December to February have too few records to rate.
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.
7th of 17
Of the 17 parks where we can rate Lesser Spotted Woodpecker sightings, Plitvice Lakes National Park ranks 7th at under 5%. The best odds are in Białowieża National Park (Poland, about 20%), Kiskunság National Park (Hungary, about 10%) and Biebrza National Park (Poland, about 10%).
Same family: Picidae
The closest relatives of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker that you can see in Plitvice Lakes National Park (family Picidae, Woodpeckers) are Great Spotted Woodpecker (about 30%), Grey-headed Woodpecker (about 20%) and Middle Spotted Woodpecker (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Plitvice Lakes National Park (14 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.
