The Middle Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocoptes medius) is a smaller, more slender relative of the Great Spotted Woodpecker, tied to old, coarse deciduous forest — above all sun-exposed oak woodland. It measures roughly 20–22 cm with a wingspan of about 33–34 cm, and is distinguished from its larger relative by an entirely red crown without a black border, a more streaked, pale pink-tinged underside, and streaked flanks; its facial pattern is less contrasting overall and lacks the continuous black moustache stripe of the Great Spotted Woodpecker. The sexes look alike, though young birds show a duller red crown.
The species drums only rarely; instead its most distinctive sound is a whining, drawn-out "gvääh-gvääh" call, unlike anything else among Sweden's woodpeckers. It excavates its nest hole in rotten, coarse deciduous wood, often in old oaks, where the female lays 4–7 eggs, and it feeds mainly on insects and larvae gleaned from bark crevices and branches — foraging more on the surface than the Great Spotted Woodpecker, which chisels deeper into wood — supplemented with seeds and nuts in winter. Once a breeding bird in Skåne, the Middle Spotted Woodpecker died out as a Swedish nesting species during the 20th century as the old, coarse oak forests it depends on became increasingly scarce, and it survives in the country today only as an extremely rare and irregular visitor, mainly to Skåne and southeastern Sweden. Its strong dependence on dead and dying wood in open, sun-lit deciduous woodland makes it highly vulnerable to modern forestry, and there is currently no regular breeding population in the country — each individual that turns up is considered a genuine rarity among Swedish birders.
Read about this species in Swedish →