Great Spotted Woodpecker

Description:

22-23 cm; wing-span 34-39 cm Quite large, strong-billed woodpecker, with black upperparts boldly pied white, and white underparts ending in large red vent. In flight shows white-barred black flight.feathers. Long black moustache joining black shoulder and mantle and also turning up in line behind ear-coverts to join black nape. Best sexed and aged by crown colour: black with rear red patch in males, all black in females and all red in juveniles By far the commonest of all dendrocopos in Europe.

Habitat:

Woodlands, city parks and gardens. I saw this one in the back-yard garden of a hotel in La Alberca village.

Notes:

Apparently it is a subspecies in Spain: Dendrocopos major hispanus with darker colours. Spanish name: Pico picapinos, pájaro carpintero