Great Spotted Woodpecker
Dendrocopos major · Woodpeckers
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Tenerife, 13 April 2026
A Great Spotted Woodpecker climbing a pine in the forest of Tenerife, tail braced against the bark the way every woodpecker uses it as a working third leg. The Canary Islands hold their own resident subspecies of this widespread bird, isolated on the islands long enough to differ from the mainland ones in subtle plumage points rather than anything obvious in the field.
It is the drummer of the European woods. The spring drum roll is not the bird feeding but the bird advertising, a dozen strikes in half a heartbeat on a dead branch chosen for its ring.
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