CROATIA - KYRGYZSTAN JOINT EDITION, PROTECTED BIRD SPECIES, White-winged woodpecker

White-winged woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucopterus) The white-winged woodpecker is a relatively little-known species of Central Asian woodpecker. It extends from the western shores of the Aral Sea to the east along northern Kyrgyzstan and southern Kazakhstan to western China, south to the borders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. It is one of the relatively numerous species of woodpeckers, predominantly black and white. It is closely related to the widespread great spotted woodpecker, which is the most common woodpecker in Croatia and Europe and to which it physically resembles. It comes into contact with the great spotted woodpecker only on the eastern edge of the distribution where hybridization of these two species occasionally occurs. Characteristic of the white-winged woodpecker is the large white winged surface by which it is most easily distinguished from related species. The white-winged woodpecker is a resident forest bird, like most other woodpeckers, so it mostly lives in the same habitat, where it guards and defends its own territory from other individuals. It marks the territory by the characteristic drumming – rapidly pecking on a tree trunk that can be heard far away. This mode of communication is especially common in early spring, before the nesting season. It inhabits lowland, deciduous forests rich in soft tree species, such as willows and poplars, but also gardens and orchards of the human settlements as well as hilly deciduous forests at lower altitudes. It occurs even in semi-desert habitats in the south, if they contain larger shrubs (Haloxylon ammodendron). It nests in cavities it creates most often in poplars or fruit trees. Its ability to create cavities in trees is extremely important for the survival of a large number of other birds, mammals and other groups of animals that use these cavities secondarily after the woodpeckers. The white-winged woodpeckers start nesting relatively early in the year, in March and April, they usually lay four to six eggs in the nest, and the young leave the cavities in May and June. Due to the importance of cavities for other animal species, as well as insect nutrition that are inaccessible to most other animals, woodpeckers are considered key species in forest ecosystems - species that, given their abundance, have a disproportionate importance and impact on the structure and functioning of ecosystems. Davor Ćiković, PhD, Research Associate Institute for Ornithology, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts