Everyone knows the great spotted woodpecker. The black woodpecker and the greenspeak are also known to many. But the little woodpecker? Very few people are familiar with that. The black-and-white feathered bird, the males of which wear a striking red cap on their heads, is a striking animal. Even experts know little about the small woodpecker. That starts with the question of how widespread it is. At the State Office for the Environment (LfU), where they record biodiversity, they estimate that between 2200 and 3400 breeding pairs live in Bavaria. Dryobates minor, so its scientific name, is one of the rare species. That is why it is on the Red List’s early warning list.
At the State Association for Bird Protection (LBV) and the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research in Frankfurt am Main, they now want to know exactly. A research project on the small woodpecker is currently underway there. The central question of the field research and mapping, which will last until 2023, is: What is the situation with the small woodpecker in Bavaria?
The bird leads an inconspicuous existence
The small woodpeckers, up to 15 centimeters tall, whose “kjik” calls are very similar to those of the great spotted woodpecker, are at home in deciduous and mixed forests, especially when they are close to water. That is why they are mainly found in floodplains, alder quarries and moor forests. Again and again they populate orchards or parks. “The small woodpecker lives mainly in the crowns of deciduous trees,” says Simon Niederbacher, who heads the research project for the LBV. “There it leads an inconspicuous existence, which is why it is considered a species that is difficult to determine.”
Up in the trees, the small woodpecker, which is a resident bird and therefore persists here in winter, likes to climb branches. From there he takes off on short prey flights every now and then. It is after beetles and larvae that live in the wood, but also eats aphids, caterpillars, spiders and snails. His caves, which he hammered into dying birch, alder and other deciduous trees with soft wood, are often used by tits, nuthatches and similar birds. In Great Britain and other European countries, the populations of small woodpeckers have collapsed dramatically in recent years.
Great spotted woodpeckers often rob the nesting holes
In Bavaria, too, there are increasing signs that the number of small woodpeckers is declining. “One reason could be that they find less and less to eat because of the dying insects,” says Niederbacher. “The typical habitats of the small woodpecker, especially the orchards, have become increasingly rare.” Another reason could be the fierce competition between small woodpeckers and great spotted woodpeckers. “Great spotted woodpeckers often rob the nesting holes of the small woodpecker to raise their young,” says Niederbacher. Two of the four small woodpecker breeding caves discovered and examined during the research project were plundered by great spotted woodpeckers.
The field research should mainly be done by volunteers. Prior knowledge of the woodpecker species in Bavaria is of course helpful, but not necessary. “In February we are organizing an online training course,” says Niederbacher. “Interested parties get everything they need to know.” At the start of the mapping, the volunteers also receive small, portable loudspeakers that play acoustic decoy calls using a smartphone. With the help of the so-called sound dummies one can attract small woodpeckers and thus more easily capture them.