Birdwatching - 3203🐦

🦉 The black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius)

• Dryocopus (Greek): drys, dendron - tree; kopos, koptō - hit
• martius (lat.) : warlike, fighting; March

I see these big guys in mixed and coniferous forests. They are very audible from afar, their calls are clearly audible over long distances and are easily identified.
But even without seeing them directly, you can clearly understand that they were here by the large number of chips left behind by their activities and even torn off bark under the trees.

In the spring, it's amusing to watch these woodpeckers raid anthills that have thawed and are just beginning to "work" after the winter. Besides eating the ants, the birds allow them to crawl on them, thereby coating themselves in formic acid, which helps protect them from parasites.