Black Woodpecker

The Black Woodpecker is a very large Palearctic woodpecker, measuring 45–55 centimetres long with a 64–84-centimetre wingspan and an average weight of roughly 250–400 grams. Its elongated bill reaches 5–6.7 centimetres, while stiff tail feathers, short legs, and strong claws support the bird against tree trunks. The species is the only Dryocopus woodpecker across most of the northern Palearctic; two subspecies are recognised, including one extending through Tibet and southwestern China. (Wikipedia, Black Woodpecker account)

This resident woodpecker favours extensive mature or old-growth forest. It hammers dead wood to expose carpenter ants and the larvae of wood-boring beetles, using a powerful bill and strongly muscled neck to reach prey deep inside trunks. A nest chamber is excavated downward inside a tree, often one softened by fungal decay, and wood chips form the only lining. Abandoned cavities later provide shelter or nest sites for other birds and mammals, giving each excavation an ecological role beyond the breeding pair. (Wikipedia, Black Woodpecker account)