Dendrocopos woodpecker - Plzen, Czech Republic, 13th August 2017 (1 Viewer)

I was going over a few pictures of a holiday in the Czech Republic in august, when I found these pictures of a woodpecker in Plzen. I was wondering whether this was a juvenile great spotted or a middle spotted woodpecker?

I'm personally more inclined to say middle spotted for multiple reasons, but am not entirely convinced about my identification.
My reasons for thinking middle spotted are the slightly streaked belly, the very red cap with only a very light black stripe underneath the back half of it, the lack of both black stripes connecting the spot on the side of its face to the back of its face, and the wing pattern with many small white spots.

The pale red vent with diffuse border is also very noticeable, but that is a characteristic of both middle spotted adult and great spotted juveniles. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the front of the face, as that would make identifying this bird a lot easier.

Thanks in advance!

Middle imo.

RafaelMatias said:

Middle imo.

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And mine


A

Yeah. In any case, it's not a GSW.

Thanks all!
Could you point out what exactly is the reasoning behind the exclusion of great spotted as a possibility?

The most characteristic feature of GSW (IMHO), which separates it from all other European woodpeckers, is the black bridge on the side of the face/neck, between the nape and the bill. In MSW, it is reduced to a (sort of) triangular patch, not connecting to either side. In Syrian and White-backed, it only connects to the bill (in, LSW, it's sort of between those).

Your first picture shows a gap between the black areas of the nape and the black patch (also, the extent of white on the face and wings is typical of MSW).

AntonBE said:

Thanks all!
Could you point out what exactly is the reasoning behind the exclusion of great spotted as a possibility?

Click to expand...

The fine striation on the underparts is also well visible. Lots of white on the wing feathers (numerous white bars) and large white area above and behind the eye (smaller on other species).

Alright, that makes it clear, thanks both of you!