European Green Woodpecker
Picus viridis
LCLeast Concern
- Family
- Woodpeckers (Picidae)
- Order
- Piciformes
Overview
The European green woodpecker (Picus viridis), also known as the yaffle and sometimes called a nickle, is a large green woodpecker with a bright red crown and a black moustache. Males have a red centre to the moustache stripe which is absent in females. It is resident across much of Europe and the western Palearctic but in Spain and Portugal it is replaced by the similar Iberian green woodpecker (Picus sharpei).
The European green woodpecker spends much of its time feeding on ants on the ground and does not often 'drum' on trees like other woodpecker species.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Range and habitat
Countries
- Albania
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- France
- Georgia
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iran
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kazakhstan
- Kosovo
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Poland
- Romania
- Russia
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: European green woodpecker
- eBird: sightings, maps and photos
- xeno-canto: sound recordings
- Birds of the World: full species account (subscription)
- BirdLife DataZone: status and threats
- IUCN Red List (threat status)
- AviList global checklist (taxonomy)
Last updated September 29, 2026.