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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

More birds from Hungary (1 Viewer)

One might bear in mind that the GSW is far more common in Hungary than the MSW; not to say this means it cannot be a MSW
I'm pretty sure that out of the three, GSW is the least likely candidate by far. At least a genetically pure one.

I have very little experience with Syrian WP unfortunately, but after having looked at images online, I've found the barely visible loral line on at least one other image and the extent of white in the wing (haven't counted the wing bars, though. So I guess Steve's point still stands) seems to be mostly OK too. The only mark (other than the wing bars?) that doesn't seem to fit is the large amount of white on the outer tail feathers.
 
Hi, I'm not the best person to comment on the woodpecker based on personal experience, however I'd like to point out the following characters that seem obvious to my eyes, and should not allow for confusion with other species. And I guess Occam's Razor principle should be used here...
- the dark lateral throat stripe is dark where it contacts the lower mandible. This feature is unique to MSW.
- the moustachial stripe doesn't reach (not even close) either the nape or the bill. Not an effect of angle and this points to MSW only.
- the amount of white above and behind the eye (above the imaginary eye-line) is typical of MSW and very unlike GSW or SW (similar to White-backed or Lesser in fact) and is responsible for the typical facial pattern/jizz of MSW
- no black rimming the red crown above the eyes: exclusive feature of MSW
- too much white on the wings for either GSW or SW
- too much white on tail for SW
- the odd angle foreshortens the body, altering the expected proportion of bill length vs. body length, making the bill appear larger
-I guess the H word doesn't need to be mentioned here, when the bird shows features that are not really intermediate between the suggested parents or not shown by either (e.g. facial pattern, number of white bars on wing feathers)
Middle Spotted Woodpecker for me.
 
MSW...pointless repeating what's already been said but....if one looks, one can see where the red of the crown meets the white face, with no intervening black line.

Cheers
 
We aren't nearly as sophisticated as you guys, but on first sight we both thought this is an easy Middle and wouldn't even flinch upon seeing it. I guess that makes us bad birders if the bird actually is difficult :)
 
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