Grey-headed woodpecker Southern Europe. There is contradictory information regarding its occurrence in Turkey. Most likely, several hundred pairs breed in Mittelgebirge habitats of the Pontic Mountains. The species is absent from the North German Plain, British Isles, Iberian Peninsula, and Mediterranean islands. In Italy, it is confined to the northernmost parts. The grey-headed woodpecker is a somewhat less specialised ant hunter than the European green woodpecker. In its foraging strategy it is intermediate between many "Dendrocopos" species on the one hand, and the often ant-specific members of the genus "Picus". This reduced ant specialisation of the grey-headed woodpecker allows it to be
European green woodpecker nest in Romania found that 10 species of ant were fed to the chicks. During the first 10 days, the young received an average of 15 g each, from days 10–20, 39.5 g, and from day 20, 49.3 g. The seven chicks consumed an estimated 1.5 million ants and pupae before leaving the nest. The beak is relatively weak and used for pecking in soft wood only. In common with other woodpecker species, the green woodpecker's tongue is long (10 cm) and has to be curled around its skull. It lacks the barbs of the Dendrocopos woodpeckers and black woodpecker,