Woodpeckers (Picidae)

Syrian Woodpecker (Dendrocopos syriacus) - HBW 7, p. 485

French: Pic syriaque German: Blutspecht Spanish: Pico Sirio

Taxonomy: Picus syriacus Ehrenberg, 1833, Mount Lebanon.
Genus sometimes merged into Picoides. Forms a superspecies with D. major, D. leucopterus, D. assimilis and D. himalayensis; has hybridized rarely with first and third of those. Some geographical variation, e.g. smaller birds in N Iran and Transcaucasia named as race transcaucasicus, often with more white in outer tail, while latter population and also those from Asia Minor tend to be darker below, but overlap in characters exists between these and other populations; similarly, balcanicus (E Balkans) with dark flank marks and supposedly larger <.. View all taxonomy...

Distribution: Austria, Czech Republic, Poland and S Belarus E to W & S Ukraine and SW Russia, and S to Balkans, Turkey, Levant countries, extreme NE Egypt (NE Sinai), N Iraq, Transcaucasia, and to N, W & S Iran.