By Mariano Gómez · Updated on 10 October 2026

Birds

Iberian Green Woodpecker, the laughing woodpecker that eats ants

Picus sharpeiHear its song0:23

Photo gallery of the Iberian Green Woodpecker

Identification of the Iberian Green Woodpecker

The Iberian Green Woodpecker is a big, robust woodpecker of unmistakable look, whose plumage is dominated by greenish tones, stronger on the back, slightly greyish below and with yellowish touches on the rump. It lacks speckles and streaks, except faintly on the vent, but wears a striking colour pattern on the head: the crown is red and the yellowish eyes are framed by a black mask.

Male

• Black and red moustache.

Female

• Moustache entirely black.

Young bird

• Black and red moustache, like the male’s.
• Heavily speckled plumage, above all on the underparts, and duller colouring than the adult’s; no mask and a darker iris.

Habitat and distribution of the Iberian Green Woodpecker

It is distributed only across the Iberian Peninsula, with a small population in south-western France. Until a few years ago the Iberian population was considered the subspecies «sharpei» of the Eurasian Green Woodpecker, «Picus viridis», which is widely distributed across temperate and Mediterranean Europe as far as the Urals, not going beyond 60 degrees north.

It is the most widespread woodpecker on the Peninsula. It is spread across much of the territory, although rarer in some regions, such as the more open districts of Extremadura, certain points of the Ebro and Levante valleys and the Guadalquivir valley. It is absent from both archipelagos, Ceuta and Melilla.

It is not very demanding: it occupies a great variety of woodland, semi-woodland or partly wooded habitats, and is not rare in parks and gardens, even in big cities. It prefers not-very-dense deciduous woods, well-wooded farmland, the margins of dense woods and, very especially, riverside woods, from sea level to the tree line, although it is scarce above 1,200 metres.

It is a strictly resident species throughout its range, and only makes movements forced by low temperatures in snowy mountain areas.

Etymology of the Iberian Green Woodpecker

According to Wikipedia, «Picus» is the Latin word for «woodpecker». Howard Saunders described it in 1872 as «Gecinus sharpei» and chose the epithet in honour of his friend, the English zoologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe, who was the first to tell it apart from the Eurasian Green Woodpecker. It was treated as a subspecies of the latter until in 2011 two studies found significant differences in the mitochondrial and nuclear DNA of the two populations. It is also known as «pito ibérico»; in other languages it is «picot verd ibèric» in Catalan, «peto verdeal ibérico» in Galician, «okil berde iberiarra» in Basque and «Iberian green woodpecker» in English¹.

Population of the Iberian Green Woodpecker

In the 2021 European Red List of Birds the European breeding population is estimated at between 488,000 and 938,000 mature individuals, with a decreasing trend. In Spain about 397,260 individuals are estimated, with the most important populations in Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Andalusia, Aragón, Catalonia, Extremadura and Galicia. The SACRE programme shows a decline, probably linked to the intensification of agriculture and forestry, which have reduced ants, its main sustenance. Some studies forecast a 16 % fall in population size over the next ten years. It is affected by agricultural intensification and unsuitable forest management, which reduce old groves and remove river groves and tree-lined boundaries, and in some places by the use of insecticides against ants, which causes poisoning.

Nest of the Iberian Green Woodpecker

It excavates a deep nest in a tree of rotten or soft wood. Both sexes do the building, but mostly the male, over 15–30 days.

Courtship and breeding of the Iberian Green Woodpecker

Its breeding period begins in late March, with the excavation of the nest. In mid-May the female lays five to seven white eggs, which both adults incubate for 17–19 days. The chicks call incessantly for food from both parents for at least 23–27 days, after which they leave the cavity where they were born.

Diet of the Iberian Green Woodpecker

It eats mainly ant larvae and adults, which it catches on tree bark or on the ground. It extracts larvae of wood-boring insects only from rotten and weak wood, because it does not have as strong a bill as other woodpeckers; instead it has a long, sticky, very mobile tongue, able to extract larvae hidden up to 10 centimetres deep in the galleries of the wood, and also to pull ants and larvae from their nest. In woods that have suffered fires it chooses unaffected areas for almost all its activities (grooming, resting, watching), but moves to the burnt ones to feed, because there it finds its prey more easily¹.

Curious facts about the Iberian Green Woodpecker

It is the commonest and most widespread of our woodpeckers and often we will know of it by its song, a sort of loud whinny that gives away its presence in the groves¹. According to Wikipedia, it was considered a subspecies of the Eurasian Green Woodpecker until 2011. The longevity data from EURING and the BTO correspond to the Eurasian Green Woodpecker, not to this species: with an average weight of about 189 g and a record of 15 years and 1 month.

The Iberian Green Woodpecker in Cabañeros

The habitat pages of this website do not mention it. GBIF.org records 54 observations of the Iberian Green Woodpecker in Cabañeros and its surroundings.

Where to see the Iberian Green Woodpecker in Cabañeros

In Cabañeros and its surroundings, all year, in riverside groves, copses and wooded dehesas.

When

All year: it is resident and sings all year, males and females.

What time

In good light; the easiest thing is to hear it before seeing it.

Where

In not-very-dense deciduous woods, well-wooded farmland, woodland margins and, above all, riverside woods; also in parks and gardens.

What to look for

Look for the red crown, the black mask and the yellowish rump; on the ground, looking for ants; listen for its whinny.

Videos of the Iberian Green Woodpecker

Similar species

Eurasian Green Woodpecker

Picus viridis

How to tell them apart

Until a few years ago the Iberian population was considered a subspecies of the Eurasian Green Woodpecker¹.

Photo: Tim Felce (Airwolfhound), CC BY-SA 2.0

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Dendrocopos major

How to tell them apart

It is not clearly similar¹. Like the Iberian Green Woodpecker, the Great Spotted Woodpecker is a woodpecker (Picidae).

Photo: Tobias Schönberg, CC0

Other birds

Bibliography

• Jiménez García-Herrera, José. (2017). Aves de Cabañeros y su entorno. Madrid, Spain: Ecohábitat.
• SEO Birdlife - Sociedad Española de Ornitología
• https://es.wikipedia.org/
• Hume, Rob. (2016). Guía de campo de las Aves de España y Europa. Barcelona, Spain: Ediciones Omega