Sangahyando
Well-known member
Being a bird family with a relatively modest numbers of species on both continents, woodpeckers are nonetheless fascinating for many people, including myself. I have first hand experience with all but one of the European species, but only know their Nearctic counterparts from webcam feeds and literature. Recently (and since it occasionally comes up on sites like this), I've come to ask myself how they compare between continents.
I've gotten as far as:
Black Woodpecker (WP) - Pileated W. (NA)(closely related, similar in size and apparently in diet, too)
Green Woodpecker (WP) - Northern Flicker (NA)(not closely related, but similar otherwise)
Syrian Woodpecker (WP) - Red-headed W. (NA)(probably?)
But how do the others line up? For instance, I'm under the impression that the Downy Woodpecker in NA seems to be doing better than the similarly-sized Lesser Spotted one here in Europe, so maybe it inhabits a somewhat different niche? Of course, ecosystems are never 100% the same on different continents, but I still think it might be fun and insightful to compare them.
Hopefully this is the right sub-forum.
I've gotten as far as:
Black Woodpecker (WP) - Pileated W. (NA)(closely related, similar in size and apparently in diet, too)
Green Woodpecker (WP) - Northern Flicker (NA)(not closely related, but similar otherwise)
Syrian Woodpecker (WP) - Red-headed W. (NA)(probably?)
But how do the others line up? For instance, I'm under the impression that the Downy Woodpecker in NA seems to be doing better than the similarly-sized Lesser Spotted one here in Europe, so maybe it inhabits a somewhat different niche? Of course, ecosystems are never 100% the same on different continents, but I still think it might be fun and insightful to compare them.
Hopefully this is the right sub-forum.