Green Woodpecker

Characteristics
The green woodpecker is very colourful, especially in springtime. It has a bright red crown, green back, greenish/buff under parts and yellowish rump. The male has a red stripe under its eye and the female has a black stripe. The tail is blackish with green barring. The bill is grey-black and legs olive-grey. The juveniles are speckled with black on the under parts and head, and spotted with white on the mantle and coverts.

Habitat
The green woodpeckers can be seen in gardens eating ants on the lawn. The nest is built in a hole in a tree. The eggs are about 32 mm by 23 mm. They are smooth, glossy and white. Both adult birds share the duty of incubating the eggs as well as feeding the young once they have hatched.

Green Woodpeckers rarely move far from their nesting site. Young birds disperse from their natal grounds in the autumn.

Behaviour
Their call is a loud, far-carrying laugh or “yaffle”. They are a woodland bird and feed on insects, such as ants, beetles and caterpillars, by extracting them from crevices in trees with their long sticky tongue.

They are also often seen feeding on ants on the ground, e.g. garden lawns and pastures.
B.A.B.

www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife