The threetoed woodpecker

The threetoed woodpecker is a small woodpecker which lives in old spruce and pine forests with large amounts of dead wood. Main food supply is woodliving insects, which it finds under the bark on old and dead spruces. The sound in the background is its mating sound made by its banging on dead trees. The drumming is a bit slower than the other woodpeckers, so its quite easy to distinguish it on the sound. Its black/grey, and the male has a yellow hood. More common to see the bird itself, is to find the characteristic rings in old growth forests (upper picture). This is done in the springtime to suck sap from the trees.
The threetoed woodpecker is one of the species that has becomed rare due to industrialised forestry. Logging removes old and dead trees from the forest. Therefor are there fewer woodliving insects now than before, and therefor less threetoed woodpeckers. Potentially breedingtrees have also become rare in large areas. But in Trillemarka, the characteristic rings on spruces are still quite common. As the only one out of the seven Norwegian woodpeckers, threetoed woodpecker use dead spruces for breeding, sometimes also pines. The others use aspen. The nesting-holes are often found only 1-2 metres above the ground. Other woodpeckers dig out their nesting holes much higher up in the trees. The picture show how that the woodpecker have removed wood under the hole, so water dont enter the nest.