Talking of woodpeckers…

The useful part

This post is republished in our "From the Archives" series, featuring highlights of our vast back catalogue of more than 10,000 birding-related posts published over the last 15 years or so. September in the Balkans started with the usual unruly bunch of Lesser Spotted, Great Spotted and Eurasian Green Woodpeckers, joined by quite a few frequent Middle Spotted Woodpeckers. October didn't bring any new peckers in Serbia, but did quite a few in Costa Rica.

How it works

• The cutest among them was the Acorn Woodpecker, looking like a fluffy toy-bird, and the most handsome was the elegant Lineated Woodpecker.
• Back in Europe, November added Syrian (common), Grey-headed (uncommon) and Black Woodpecker (relatively frequent).
• Grey-headed awaited me on the ridge above the Danube in the Iron Gates National Park.
• Another greenish pecker flies to the left and lands in some bare branches, only to prove to be my first Grey-headed Woodpecker of the year.
• Rock Bunting in the Iron Gates National Park, Serbia, by Vitrag Shah And the Black Woodpeckers?

Details worth keeping

As tree crowns grow thinner, Autumn becomes the true woodpecker season. On the last day of the month all of them become overshadowed by Elvis.