Great spotted woodpecker: woodpeckers like this food

Great spotted woodpeckers are common in Germany. They are represented all year round in deciduous and coniferous forests, parks, orchards and avenues. In winter, great spotted woodpeckers can also be found looking for food at feeding places in the garden.

Skilful foraging for food

The great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major), up to 23 cm in size, has a white chest, the typical white belly, red Tail cover and black back with white spots is mainly found in trees when looking for food On the way. He is rarely found on the ground. The wedge-shaped, powerful beak, which is also known as the "chisel beak", is a great help here. This allows the woodpecker to easily strike the wood with force. Not to be forgotten is the long tongue, which can be stretched forward up to 40 mm.

Note: The common great spotted woodpecker is not acutely threatened. However, in Central Europe it is endangered in the long term, as the near-natural forests continue to decline.

Insects very popular

The most popular food on the menu of the great spotted woodpecker are insects living in wood and their larvae. With skillful movements and strong beak blows, he can easily pull them out from under the tree bark. In the wild, his diet also includes:

• Worms, caterpillars, spiders
• Ants, young beetles
• Berry
• Nuts, beechnuts
• fruit
• Spruce and pine cones
• Wild seeds

During the breeding season, the woodpecker quickly becomes a nest predator. It plunders the nests of titmice and small woodpeckers in particular. He takes eggs and also young birds.

He rings trees

The great spotted woodpecker also likes to sip tree sap and tree sap. To do this, it has to use its beak to poke holes around the trunk or on the top of branches. He prefers to curl the trees in spring when they have enough tree sap. The holes then slowly fill up with the juice and so the great spotted woodpecker gets this coveted food. Over time, the wounds or Holes by themselves (overgrown) and the typical ring formation occurs. However, the rings sometimes look more like beads. The woodpecker prefers:

• Linden trees
• Maple and
• Red oaks

Note: The great spotted woodpecker is considered a mixed eater. In other words, he eats soft food such as insects, fruit and dried berries, as well as grains such as sunflower or pumpkin seeds, nuts, beechnuts, wild seeds and fatty food made from grains.

Support in winter

Especially in winter, when the supply of insects is no longer available, the woodpecker should be offered additional food at feeding places in the garden. Very often you can see the birds nibbling on tit rings there. Sufficient fatty food is particularly important for the woodpecker in the cold season. He can also be offered additional feed. A change in diet is not difficult for the bird. The offer can be very generous, for example:

• nuts, Beechnuts, acorns
• Fir and pine cones
• Sunflower and pumpkin seeds
• Cereal grains and oatmeal
• Seeds such as poppy seeds, millet and flaxseed
• dried berries
• Apples
• Insect mixes
• Fatty food

Feeding columns filled with sunflower seeds or nuts are particularly suitable.

Nutcracker

For the great spotted woodpecker it is no problem at all to crack hard-shelled food such as nuts or hard beetles very easily. This takes place in the so-called "woodpecker forge". In the forest, he clamps the nut into a hole in the tree trunk that has been specially chopped beforehand. Then he chops on the nut with his beak until the shell breaks. A little help can be given in the garden by removing the "drilling work". This option is particularly useful when the bird feeder has a thick, high trunk. Of course a tree goes too. The procedure is as follows:

• drill short holes
• At least 1 cm in diameter
• Put in the hazelnuts
• Nuts that have already been cracked are also possible
• Check the nuts every few days
• replace if necessary
• mustn't be lazy

Alternatively, nuts can also be clamped in forks of branches. In addition, great spotted woodpeckers are also happy about pine and fir cones that are stuck in corresponding knotholes or crevices of bark.

Tip: Even in winter, the birds need fresh water to drink and bathe. A coaster with water should always be available. A hot plate can do a good job of preventing it from freezing.

Make fatty food yourself

Fatty food can also be produced by yourself without great effort, especially for woodpeckers.

• Melt 500g beef suet or vegetable fat
• Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of cooking oil
• Add double amount either:
• Sunflower seeds
• nuts
• Seeds
• dried fruits such as birdberries or elderberries
• rosehips

Ingredients can also be mixed. Everything then has to cool down a bit. However, the mass should still be viscous. It is then smeared into the cracks in the tree bark. In this way they support the great spotted woodpecker in their search for food in their garden.

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