Woodpeckers, hard-headed knockers

Woodpeckers are really hard-headed knockers or are them? The woodpecker knocks the wood so hard that you might think it would cause a brain damage. However, the woodpeckers have adapted to knocking: their brains are shaking in a hood inside the head that effectively absorbs shocks. You can detect woodpeckers quite easily by listening the knocking on a tree.

There are about 200 different woodpecker species in the world, of which seven nest in Finland. By far our most common woodpecker is the Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

The woodpecker is scientifically called Dendrocopos major. The Greek word dendron means wood, and the Latin word major refers to larger.

Great Spotted Woodpecker can be seen almost anywhere, both in the city center park and in the heart of the forest. Great Spotted Woodpecker eats cones, which it transports from a pine tree to the top of a rotten wood and places the cone in a cavity for processing.

The “workshop” of the woodpecker is often marked by piles of cone scales at the root of the tree. In the summer, the woodpecker snaps insects and larvae from rotten trees. We have around our cottage many old rotten trees so no wonder why we also have many woodpeckers.

I have been feeding birds and squirrels in our cottage all winter. In the beginning birds were quite shy and tits were the most common birds in the feeding place. But then tall sausage changed the came and also Great Spotted Woodpeckers came to feed on our yard.

Spring makes the woodpecker active

It has been nice to watch how spring affects woodpeckers. They are really active and quite often female is escaping when male woodpecker is approaching. They are flying really fast from tree to tree.

I was walking in the forest and saw two woodpeckers chasing each other. Usually flying birds are too far away as my lens is too short. Now I was lucky and got two photos of flying woodpeckers.

The photo here below is absolutely my favorite. Somehow my thoughts are in Japan even I have never been there.

My story of woodpecker is ending. Last thing: I found a video from Finnish YLE-channel showing Great Spotted Woodpecker in its daily life. You can watch and listen woodpecker HERE.

Take care and stay healthy ❤️