Picoides tridactylus

Geographic Range

Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers are non-migratory birds that are native to boreal and alpine coniferous forests throughout the Palearctic zone (Wesolwski et al. 2005). The northern part of their range starts at tree line and extends southward to southern Scandinavia, Latvia, the Moscow region, the Tomsk region of western Siberia, northern Mongolia, Manchuria, northeast Korea and Sakhalin. There are isolated populations found in the Alps, Carpathian, and Balkans mountains, northern Greece and Bulgaria, Kamchatka, Hokkaido in Japan and the western mountains of China (Short and Sandström 1982 and Winkler et al. 1995).

• Biogeographic Regions
• palearctic palearctic
  • native native

Habitat

Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers are almost exclusively found in coniferous forest; in particular, they are specialists in spruce and snags (Roberge 2008, Välimäki et al. 2008 and Stachura-Skierczyńska 2009). In Siberia they can be found in the tamaracks of the taiga (Winkler et al. 1995). There have been reports of three-toed woodpeckers in deciduous forests, especially in eastern Europe where they can be found in wet ash-alder habitat and in oak-hornbean stands (Bock and Bock 1974 and Winkler et al. 1995). Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers have a strong association of being found where there has been either fire or wind disturbances. (Stachura-Skierczyńska 2009).

• Habitat Regions
• temperate temperate
• terrestrial terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• taiga taiga
• forest forest

Physical Description

Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers are small birds with the males weighing 65 to 75g and the females weighing 54 to 66 g (Short 1982 and Pechacek 2006). Overall these birds are black and white and have three toes per foot with the male having a yellow crown (Short 1982; Winkler et al. 1995). Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers have black foreheads, lores, ear coverts and moustachial stripes. The chin, throat, and the supercilium from the rear to the top of the eye are white. The lateral crown stripe is predominantly black with white speckling. The breast is mostly white or creamy-buff, with black streaks on the side and barred black on the flanks and undertail-coverts. Their mantle is black except for a white central patch. The scapulars are black with innermost part being white. The back and rump are white with black bars found at the margins. The uppertail-coverts are brownish-black with the upperwing being all black. The flight feathers are also black with a white barred pattern. The tail is black with three white outer pairs of feathers that are barred black at the tips. They have brownish-red to deep red eyes and gray feet and legs. The bill is described as either slaty or gray-black and becomes paler towards the base.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger
• sexes colored or patterned differently
• male more colorful

Reproduction

Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers are a socially monogamous species that displays mate-guarding. However, there have been a small number of instances where polygyny, polyandry and extra-pair paternity have been observed (Välimäki et al. 2008; and Li et al. 2009). Courtship takes place during late March through April, when females lay their eggs (Winkler et al. 1995).

• Mating System
• monogamous monogamous
• polyandrous polyandrous
• polygynous polygynous

Females lay their eggs in holes that both the female and male excavate inside dead trees. They use the same nest over a long period of time (Li et al. 2009; and Winkler et al. 1995). Chicks hatch between 11 and 14 days after incubation (Winkler et al. 1995). There can be high breeding density in a given area post fire (Li et al. 2009). During the breeding season, Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers have a single clutch that averages 3.4 eggs and has a fledging rate of 40% (Pechacek 2006).

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous iteroparous
• seasonal breeding seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual sexual
• oviparous oviparous

Both the male and female show a high degree of care for their young (Li et al. 2009). At night only the male will incubate the eggs and care for the young. Both parents will stay with their young up to 40 days after they have fledged (Pechacek 2006).

• Parental Investment
• male parental care male parental care
• female parental care female parental care
• pre-fertilization
  • protecting
    • male
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female

Lifespan/Longevity

No information about longevity is available from the literature

Behavior

Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers are arboreal and almost never spend time on the ground (Winkler et al. 1995). While foraging, they move backwards down a tree. Males forage on the lower parts of the tree while females can be found higher up the tree. They lower their bills when they want to show a submissive display. When they are aggressive, they raise their bill and crest and swing their head. This aggressive display is usually accompanied by a “wicka” call. In aggressive encounters they spread their wings and tail feathers and preform an aerial display (Short and Sandström 1982). Most of their interspecific interactions are between other food competitors (Short and Sandström 1982; and Winkler et al. 1995).

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal arboreal
• flies
• diurnal diurnal
• motile motile
• sedentary sedentary
• solitary solitary
• territorial territorial

Home Range

The average home range of Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers during nesting season is 59.6 ha (Pechacek and d'Oleire-Oltmanns 2004). The size of their territory can vary depending on the availability of resources.

Communication and Perception

Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers use drumming as a form of communication (Short 1982 and Winkler et al. 1995). Paired birds will slow down the beats per drumming burst when they want to give a location or breeding signal. They will speed up their drumming when it is used in an aggressive or territorial manner. Males average 19.7 beats per drumming whereas females average 21.2 beats per drumming. A drumming burst lasts on average 1.29 seconds. Their call note is described as “kip” “gug”,”gig” or “kjub," lasts for an average of 0.048 seconds, and has a pitch of 1.9 kilohertz (Short 1982 and Winkler et al. 1995). This call note is used for location and low level aggression. When there is danger or a disturbance to their nest, they use a scolding call, which is a fast series of call notes. These birds use the rattle call: a series of “kri-kri-kri,” when they are threatened or for territorial defense. The call uses 6 to 26 notes that average 1.1 seconds with 10.7 to 11.9 notes per seconds. When locked in an aggressive encounter these birds swing their head and give a series of “twuit” notes. Paired birds will use “dwach” during intimate contacts (Winkler et al. 1995).

• Communication Channels
• visual visual
• acoustic acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual visual
• tactile tactile
• acoustic acoustic
• chemical chemical

Food Habits

Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers are insectivores that mainly feed on the larvae of bark beetles ( Coleoptera : Scolytidae ) but also eat other insects found in dying and dead trees (Butler 2004). While on the nest, their diet consists mostly of spiders and longhorn beetle larvae that they can easily gather from around the nest (Pechacek and Kristin 2004). They use a combination of tapping and pecking on the bark of tree to gain access to their food source (Pechacek 2006). During the breeding season they will, on rare occasions, lick sap from tree trunks (Butler 2004; and Pechacek 2006).

• Primary Diet
• carnivore carnivore
  • insectivore insectivore

• Animal Foods
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods

• Plant Foods
• sap or other plant fluids

Predation

No predators are reported in the literature

Ecosystem Roles

Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers are a keystone species in the ecosystems they inhabit. They create tree-cavities which serve many other species as nesting or roosting hole (Bütler et al. 2004). Since they are so strongly tied to dead and dying trees, they are considered bio-indicators used to assess the health of a forest (Pechacek 2004).

• Ecosystem Impact
• creates habitat
• keystone species keystone species

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers are predators of insects that are prone to outbreaks which include Ips nitidus and Polygraphus poligraphus and can be used as natural agents against insect plagues (Butler et al. 2004). They can be an important economic aspect of forest management since they control and limit bark beetle populations under epidemic levels (Stachura-Skierczyńska et al. 2009).

• Positive Impacts
• controls pest population

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

There are no known adverse effects of Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers on humans

Conservation Status

Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers are listed as least concern and stable (IUCN 2012). Individual populations face threats from large-scale commercial logging, fire suppression, and removal of dead or insect-infested trees.

Additional Links

Encyclopedia of Life

Contributors

Quentin Sprengelmeyer (author), Northern Michigan University, Alec Lindsay (editor), Northern Michigan University, Tanya Dewey (editor), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

References

Bock, C., J. Bock. 1974. On the geographical ecology and evolution of the three-toed woodpeckers,<< Picoides tridactylus>> and P. arcticus . American Midland Naturalist , 92/2: 397-405.

Bütler, R., P. Angelstam, P. Ekelund, R. Schlaepfer. 2004. Dead wood threshold values for the three-toed woodpecker presence in boreal and sub-Alpine forest. Biological Conservation , 119(3): 305-318.

Hågvar, S., G. Hågvar, E. Mønness. 1990. Nest site selection in Norwegian woodpeckers. Ecography , 13: 156-165.

Li, M., K. Välimäki, M. Piha, T. Pakkala, J. Merilä. 2009. Extrapair Paternity and Maternity in the Three-Toed Woodpecker, Picoides tridactylus: Insights from Microsatellite-Based Parentage Analysis. PLoS ONE , 4: e7895. Accessed January 19, 2013 at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0007895 .

Mikusiński, G., M. Gromadzki, P. Chylarecki. 2001. Pájaros Carpinteros como Indicadores de la Diversidad de Aves Forestales. Conservation Biology , 15: 208-217.

Murphy, E., W. Lehnhausen. 1998. Density and Foraging Ecology of Woodpeckers Following a Stand-Replacement Fire. The Journal of Wildlife Management , 62: 1359-1372.

Pasinelli, G. 2006. Population biology of European woodpecker species. Ann. Zool. Fennici, 43: 96-111.

Pechacek, P., A. Kristin. 2004. Comparative Diets Of Adult and Young Three-Toed Woodpeckers In A European Alpine Forest Community. Journal of Wildlife Management , 68: 683-693.

Pechacek, P., D. Nelson. 2004. Spacing behavior of Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers ( Picoides tridactylus ) during the breeding season in Germany.. The Auk , 121: 58-67.

Pechacek, P., W. d'Oleire-Oltmanns. 2004. Habitat use of the three-toed woodpecker in central Europe during the breeding period. Biological Conservation , 116(3): 333-341.

Pechacek, P. 2006. Breeding performance, natal dispersal, and nest site fidelity of the three-toed woodpecker in the German Alps. Annales Zoologici Fennici, 43: 165–176.

Roberge, J., P. Angelstam, M. Villard. 2008. Specialised woodpeckers and naturalness in hemiboreal forests–Deriving quantitative targets for conservation planning. Biological Conservation , 141/4: 997-1012.

Short, L., G. Sandström. 1982. Woodpeckers of the world . Greenville, Delaware: Delaware Museum of Natural History.

Stachura-Skierczyńska, K., T. Tumiel, M. Skierczyński. 2009. Habitat prediction model for three-toed woodpecker and its implications for the conservation of biologically valuable forests. Forest Ecology and Management , 258/5: 697-703.

Virkkala, V. 2006. Why study woodpeckers? The significance of woodpeckers in forest ecosystem. Annales Zoologici Fennici , 43: 82-85.

Välimäki, K., S. Piha, M. Pakkala, J. Merilä. 2008. Isolation and characterization of 17 polymorphic microsatellite loci for the three‐toed woodpecker ( Picoides tridactylus ). Molecular Ecology Resources , 8(5): 1152-1154..

Wesolwski, T., D. Czeszczewik, P. Rowinski. 2005. Effects of forest management on Three-toed Woodpecker Picoides tridactylusdistribution in the Bialowieza Forest (NE Poland): conservation implications. Acta Ornithologica , 40: 53-60.

Winkler, H., D. Christie, D. Nurney. 1995. Woodpeckers: an identification guide to the woodpeckers of the world . New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.