Black woodpecker
Dryocopus martius (Linnaeus, 1758)
The black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius) is a bird in the family Picidae, subfamily Picinae, within the order Piciformes. It is a small bird with an adult body mass of 321 g, and it is a sedentary, perching invertivore of forest habitats.
Quick facts about the black woodpecker
It lays 4.8 eggs per clutch, one clutch per year, with an incubation period of 12 days, and reaches sexual maturity at 1 year. The IUCN Red List assesses it as Least Concern globally, which is not a threatened category, and its geographic range covers 19,630,000 km².
- Weight
- 310.6 g – 321 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 14 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 12 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.9 – 4.8src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 12 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the black woodpecker
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the black woodpecker live?
Not recorded
What is the black woodpecker?
The black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius) is a large woodpecker that lives in mature forests across the northern Palearctic. It is the sole representative of its genus in that region, and its range is expanding. The black woodpecker is easily the largest woodpecker species in Europe as well as in the portion of Asia where it lives and is one of the largest species worldwide. This non-migratory species tends to make its home in old-growth forest or large forest stands and excavates a large tree hole to reside in. In turn, several species rely on black woodpeckers to secondarily reside in the holes made in trees by them. This woodpecker's diet consists mostly of carpenter ants. This species is closely related to, and fills the same ecological niche in Europe as, the pileated woodpecker of North America and the lineated woodpecker of South America, also being similar to the white-bellied woodpecker which is distributed to the south somewhat of the black woodpecker in Asia.
From the Wikipedia article “Black woodpecker” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_woodpecker&oldid=1357539071), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the black woodpecker sound like?
Is the black woodpecker endangered?
The black woodpecker is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the black woodpecker classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPiciformes
- familyPicidae
- genusDryocopus
- SpeciesDryocopus martius (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Dendrocopus martius reichenowi, Dryocolaptes martius, Picus martius, Picus niger, Picus nigrococcineus
Other names and names in other languages (81)
- نقار الخشب الأسودArabic
- picapodrizuAsturian
- Qara ağacdələnAzerbaijani
- Ҡара тумыртҡаBashkir
- ЖаўнаBelarusian
- Чорная жаўнаBelarusian
- Черен кълвачBulgarian
- Speg duBreton
- Picot negreCatalan
- picot negre euroasiàticCatalan
- КергӹMari
- ТӑхранChuvash
- datel černýCzech
- Czôrny dzëdzónKashubian
- Cnocell DduWelsh
- SortspætteDanish
- SchwarzspechtGerman
- Μαύρος ΔρυοκολάπτηςGreek
- nigra pegoEsperanto
- Picamaderos negroSpanish
- musträhnEstonian
- Okil beltzBasque
- Okil beltzaBasque
- دارکوب سیاهPersian
- palokärkiFinnish
- Pic noirFrench
- Swarte spjochtWestern Frisian
- Cnagaire dubhIrish
- Kara aaçkakanGagauz
- Cnag dhubhScottish Gaelic
- Peto negroGalician
- Snoggeyder dooManx
- נקר שחורHebrew
- fekete harkályHungarian
- Սև փայտփորArmenian
- SvartspætaIcelandic
- Picchio neroItalian
- クマゲラJapanese
- ხეკაკუნაGeorgian
- ЖыуӀуфӀыцӀэKabardian
- Қара тоқылдақKazakh
- 까막딱다구리Korean
- 까막딱따구리Korean
- Casek-cos duCornish
- Schwaarze SpiechtLuxembourgish
- juodoji meletaLithuanian
- melnā dzilnaLatvian
- кергеMari
- шемшиштеMari
- црн клукајдрвецMacedonian
- Хар тоншуулMongolian
- Swarte BoomhackerLow German
- Zwarte SpechtDutch
- svartspettNorwegian
- dzięcioł czarnyPolish
- ڈرائیوکوپس مارٹیسWestern Panjabi
- pica-pau-pretoPortuguese
- Peto-pretoPortuguese
- Ciocănitoare neagrăRomanian
- ЖелнаRussian
- Чёрный дятелRussian
- Чорный дятельRusyn
- КиргилYakut
- RuovddagasNorthern Sami
- KrakėSamogitian
- tesár čiernySlovak
- črna žolnaSlovenian
- Crna žunaSerbian
- Црна жунаSerbian
- spillkråkaSwedish
- นกหัวขวานดำThai
- Ibong karpinteroFilipino
- Kara AğaçkakanTurkish
- Сьӧд сизьUdmurt
- жовна чорнаUkrainian
- Дятел чорнийUkrainian
- Pigoso moroVenetian
- KärgVeps
- 黑啄木Chinese
- 黑啄木鳥Chinese
- 黑啄木鸟Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the black woodpecker
Other species in the same genus Dryocopus.
Pileated woodpecker
Dryocopus pileatus
White-bellied woodpecker
Dryocopus javensis
Andaman woodpecker
Dryocopus hodgei
Lineated woodpecker
Dryocopus lineatus
Black-bodied woodpecker
Dryocopus schulzii
CompareBlack woodpecker vs Pileated woodpeckerBlack woodpecker vs White-bellied woodpeckerBlack woodpecker vs Andaman woodpeckerBlack woodpecker vs Lineated woodpecker
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the black woodpecker?
The black woodpecker is a bird in the family Picidae, order Piciformes. It is a sedentary, perching species of forest habitats.
How heavy is a black woodpecker?
An adult black woodpecker weighs 321 g, which places it in the small size class (adult body mass 10 g to 1 kg).
What does the black woodpecker eat?
The black woodpecker is an invertivore, placing it at the carnivore trophic level.
Is the black woodpecker endangered?
No. The IUCN Red List assesses the black woodpecker as Least Concern globally, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a black woodpecker live?
The black woodpecker has a lifespan of 14 years.
How many eggs does a black woodpecker lay?
The black woodpecker lays 4.8 eggs per clutch and has 1 clutch per year. The eggs are incubated for 12 days.
When does a black woodpecker reach sexual maturity?
The black woodpecker reaches sexual maturity at 364.6 days, or 1 year, with reported values from 364.2 to 365 days.
Who named the black woodpecker?
The black woodpecker, Dryocopus martius, was named by (Linnaeus, 1758).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-woodpecker
“Black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-woodpecker.
@misc{black_woodpecker_2026,
title = {Black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-woodpecker},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}