Body length: 21-22 cm
Wingspan: 33-34 cm
Body mass: 55-80 g
Appearance: another black-white-and-red woodpecker, but with a full red cap and black moustachial stripe not reaching (the rather delicate-looking) bill.
Medium-sized woodpecker, as name suggests, and not very common. Mainly in mixed woodland with plenty of oak and hornbeam, in which it excavates the nest-hole. Nests more rarely in alders. Hole typically 4-5 m above ground. In early spring birds will peel off birch-bark to drink the sweet sap leaking out, sometimes ”ring-barking” a tree in the process. Also visits such sites to re-open holes, at the same time taking any insects that may have become stuck.
Descriptions drawing on content of Ptaki Polski (“Birds of Poland”) - a book authored by Andrzej G. Kruszewicz, and published by MULTICO Oficyna Wydawnicza Sp. z o.o.