Middle Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos medius) (2 Viewers)

[ori76]

On my visit to Switzerland this past week I was quite sure that I saw a Middle Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos medius) in the Swiss Alps (Grindelwald Valley, 1500 m Holenstein).

Now I have checked on the internet that the Middle Spotted Woodpecker is present only on the north of Switzerland.

Are there any Middle Spotted Woodpeckers in the alps? or it must have been a young Great Spotted Woodpecker

 

[bittern]

At least as far as "Les Oiseaux de Suisse" is concerned there are none in the Alps. The Middle Spotted Woodpecker population runs along the Jura from Geneva in the South-West towards Basel. However the population appears to be expanding again so nothing is impossible and local populations could go unrecorded. They were thought to have disappeared around Geneva but it is now known that there are around 50 or 60 pairs mostly on the Jura side of Geneva.

Mike

 

[njlarsen]

What kind of habitat? If I recall correctly (and it has been true for the few I have seen) the MSW does like to have water nearby, or sometimes even below, the nest hole.

Niels

 

[ori76]

It was in a meadow in a pine forest at 1.500 m altitude. Plenty of springs nearby coming down from the diferent glaciers and snow covered mountains

 

[wintibird]

Unlikely to be a Middle Spotted Woodpecker then, completely wrong habitat. Possibly a juvenile Greater.

André

 

[ori76]

Must be