Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martius)

The Black Woodpecker is a powerful crow-sized woodpecker. It favours tall trunks in climax forests, preferably well spaced but forming extensive unbroken woodland. In Greece it is a fairly widespread but scarce resident species. On Mts. Oiti and Kallidromo, it is restricted to mature upland coniferous forests. The Black Woodpecker creates holes in trees which are used as nesting sites. Other species, including the Tengmalm’s owl, which are secondary hole-nesters, use abandoned Black Woodpecker holes.