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Woodpeckers (Picidae)

Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martius) - HBW 7, p. 527

French: Pic noir German: Schwarzspecht Spanish: Picamaderos Negro
Other common names: Great Black Woodpecker

Taxonomy: Picus martius Linnaeus, 1758, Europe = Sweden.
Size varies clinally, decreasing from N to S and, in Asia, from E to W; birds from S Europe E to Transcaucasia sometimes separated as race pinetorum (slightly smaller than N breeders) and those from E Asia as reichenowi (on average larger than W Asian populations), but much overlap occurs in measurements, and racial separation not warranted. Two subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

  • martius (Linnaeus, 1758) - Europe from Spain, France and Scandinavia (N to Arctic Circle), S to Balkans and N Turkey, and E in broad belt across Asian taiga (S to Altai Mts, N Mongolia) to Kamchatka, Sakhalin and Japan (Hokkaido, extreme N Honshu), NE China and Korea; also Caucasus and N Iran.
  • khamensis (Buturlin, 1908) - SW China and Tibet (Qinghai S to NW Yunnan).

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