Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

How to tell the difference between Lesser and Great spotted Woodpeckers?

+0
−0

Around my work I walk in local parks for a couple of hours a day, and I've noticed we have Green Woodpeckers, and I've seen them quite a few times and can now recognise them rather easily.

Recently I have seen Spotted Woodpeckers, I assumed it was a Great Spotted Woodpecker, however recently learnt we have Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in the UK as well. It was pouring with rain at the time so I was unable to get a very close look at the pair. How would you tell the difference between Great and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers by their look and behavior?

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/22327. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

0 comment threads

1 answer

+0
−0

Size:

The great spotted is greater in size than the lesser spotted. Perhaps that goes without saying but the difference is quite significant. The great spotted is about the size of a blackbird. The lesser spotted is about the size of a sparrow.

Red:

Female lessers have a white cap. Male lessers have a red cap, juvenile greats have a red cap but they're bigger than lessers.

Greats have a red bum and males have a red patch on the back of the head. They also have larger white patches on the wings.

In summary

It's really hard to tell the difference, be glad we don't also get the middle spotted woodpecker. The chances are you saw a great spotted wookpecker because the lesser spotted is quite rare.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/lesser-spotted-woodpecker/

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/great-spotted-woodpecker/

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/22328. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »