The Story
This is a Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) that I photographed at the Zhangye National Wetland Park in Zhangye, Gansu, China on March 28, 2018. It is a medium-sized pied woodpecker with a red patch on the lower belly. It is found across the Palearctic and lives in all types of woodland. It chisels into trees for food and nest holes and drums to keep in contact and mark its territory. IUCN lists the species as Least Concern. The park lies along the Heihe, the second-longest inland-draining river in China, at about 1,440 to 1,470 meters above sea level.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6ED DC AW, at 1/800 sec, f/10, ISO 200. The wetland’s managers are working to restore habitat that farming and falling water tables have degraded.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) belongs to the family Picidae (Woodpeckers) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List