Picus sharpei
Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on John Cox's illustration · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Iberian Green Woodpecker sighting in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, based on 129 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 62nd most-seen of the 153 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and November–December
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Iberian Green Woodpecker in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, against about 10% in January–April and June–October, the lowest months.
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.
6th of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Iberian Green Woodpecker sightings, Sierra Nevada National Park ranks 6th at about 10%. The best odds are in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park (Spain, about 20%), Aigüestortes National Park (Spain, about 20%) and Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park (Spain, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Iberian Green Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Sierra Nevada National Park (129 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.
