

Profile

In flight
Woodpeckers
European Green Woodpecker
Picus viridis
- epic
- 72 km/h
- Least Concern
Eats almost entirely ants, off the ground. Laughs at you with a call called the 'yaffle.'
- Population
- BirdLife's 2021 European Red List of Birds supplementary data (primary source, PDF fetched and read directly) gives 603,000-1,030,000 breeding pairs for Europe, which holds >75% of the global range (France ~27% and Germany ~9% of the European total alone). Independently, Wikipedia's IUCN-sourced infobox gives a global individuals estimate of 920,000-2.9 million. Global population trend: stable.
- Habitat
- Semi-open landscapes with old deciduous trees for nesting near ant-rich open ground — parkland, orchards, heathland, grassland, and open woodland/forest edge
- Fun fact
- The European Green Woodpecker's loud, laughing call earned it folk names such as "yaffle," and directly inspired Professor Yaffle, the wooden bookend character in the 1974 British children's TV series Bagpuss.
- Range
- Widespread across Europe and the western Palearctic (over 75% of its range in Europe); extends into western Asia, the Middle East, and the Caucasus. Absent from Ireland, Iceland/Greenland, and the far north (Fennoscandia's Arctic zone)
- Diet
- Primarily ants (chiefly Lasius and Formica species) and their pupae/larvae, gleaned from the ground with its long sticky tongue; occasionally other insects and, rarely, small reptiles
- Size
- 0.33 m
- Wingspan
- 0.48 m
- Lifespan
- 15.2 years











