The habitat preference of the Great-spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major Linnaeus, 1758) in a mosaic habitat
Abstract
The picids (Picidae) live in wooded associations. The Great-spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) is a common, abundant species. There are eight woodpecker species in the study area. Only the Great-spotted Woodpecker has got constant breeding population. The rest of the species are rare and occasional. The great spotted woodpecker lives in the grove-like habitat of the Ócsa Landscape Protection Area with low number of competitors. We used the data of mist-netted birds from the Ócsa Bird Observatory from the period 1983-2010 and the data of the spatial distribution of the birds from 2007-2010. We sought solutions to the following questions: What is the density of the breeding pairs in the study area? How optimal is this habitat for the species? Which tree species are preferred? How do the birds distribute spatially in the habitat? Just two or three pairs can breed in the study area due to succession rates. The density of the breeding pairs can be 1,5 pairs per 10 ha. This habitat is close to optimal for this species. Though the vegetation of the area is a mosaic and diverse, woodpeckers mostly preferred various willow and poplar species, with other tree species under- or over-represented. The birds mainly moved in the upper parts of trees.
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