Dendrocopos major
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) is a medium-sized woodpecker with pied black and white plumage and a red patch on the lower belly. Males and young birds also have red markings on the neck or head. This species is found across the Palearctic including parts of North Africa. Across most of its range it is resident, but in the north some will migrate if the conifer cone crop fails. Some individuals have a tendency to wander, leading to the recolonisation of Ireland in the first decade of the 21st century and to vagrancy to North America. Great spotted woodpeckers chisel into trees to find food or excavate nest holes, and also drum for contact and territorial advertisement; like other woodpeckers, they have anatomical adaptations to manage the physical stresses from the hammering action.
This woodpecker occurs in all types of woodlands and eats a variety of foods, being capable of extracting seeds from pine cones, insect larvae from inside trees or eggs and chicks of other birds from their nests. It breeds in holes excavated in living or dead trees, unlined apart from wood chips. The typical clutch is four to six glossy white eggs. Both parents incubate the eggs, feed the chicks, and keep the nest clean. When the young fledge they are fed by the adults for about ten days, each parent taking responsibility for feeding part of the brood.
The species is closely related to some other members of its genus. It has a number of subspecies, some of which are distinctive enough to be potential new species. It has a huge range and large population, with no widespread threats, so it is classed as a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Asahiyama Zoo | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 2 | Leningrad Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Great Spotted Woodpecker sighting in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, based on 315 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 20th most-seen of the 153 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, September and November
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Great Spotted Woodpecker in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, against about 20% in April and May, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Great 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.
11th of 29
Of the 29 parks where we can rate Great Spotted Woodpecker sightings, Sierra Nevada National Park ranks 11th at about 30%. The best odds are in Białowieża National Park (Poland, about 70%), Nikko National Park (Japan, about 60%) and Bavarian Forest National Park (Germany, about 50%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Great Spotted Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Sierra Nevada National Park (315 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.
