Great spotted woodpecker (1 Viewer)

[stedwomas]

I filmed had a great spotted woodpecker visit abour 3 weeks ago and it had a red rump. Today I filmed one and it had no red rump. I tried looking up whether it was a juvenile but no success - any ideas

steve

 

[Jos Stratford]

Great Spotted Woodpecker does not have a red rump at any age, but it does have a red vent area ... maybe the film angle showed this?

 

[stedwomas]

this was walkden in manchester UK

 

[Butty]

Welcome to BF.
More directly... I think the suggestion above is that you may have mistakenly thought you were looking at a red rump when in fact the red was on the undertail-coverts/vent/lower belly.

 

[stedwomas]

THe red - well it was a pinky red was on the under-tail of the one from 3 weeks ago , but the one that came today had no red on the undertail whatsoever

 

[delia todd]

Hi Steve and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. Yes, all the Great Spotted Woodpeckers have red under the tail. I wonder if you get Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in your area (they're much rarer, very small and much more spotty).

Here are links to our Opus articles: Great Spotted Woodpecker and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker for you to be able to compare.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum. I hope you enjoy your visits.

 

[stedwomas]

this is the Great spotted woodpecker today which had no red under-tail

 

[stedwomas]

and this is the previous one

 

[Jos Stratford]

Both of your birds are Great Spotted Woodpeckers. The intensity of the red on the vent area does vary, but I think here it is largely a feature of the angle of filming...the angle of today's bird essentially hides where the red would be.

 

[stedwomas]

Both of your birds are Great Spotted Woodpeckers. The intensity of the red on the vent area does vary, but I think here it is largely a feature of the angle of filming...the angle of today's bird essentially hides where the red would be.

thanks Jos - i will try and get a better quality film

 

[Jos Stratford]

Nice collection of feeders you have 👍

 

[stedwomas]

Nice collection of feeders you have 👍

Thanks - for those interested there are quite a few videos featuring Hedgehogs and an amazing cat sqeezing into a hedgehog house

 

[stedwomas]

Thanks - for those interested there are quite a few videos featuring Hedgehogs and an amazing cat sqeezing into a hedgehog house

I get all my feeders from "home bargains/quality save" and peanuts and sunflower seeds from there - they are the cheapest i have seen

 

[Earnest lad]

May I share the link of bird anatomy from Birdforum, in case it is helpful

Topography - BirdForum Opus

www.birdforum.net

 

[Butty]

this is the Great spotted woodpecker today which had no red under-tail

We're looking here at the bird's upperparts only - so the red on the rear of the underparts isn't visible. There's no red on the (under)tail itself.