European green woodpecker hole is excavated in a tree; four to six eggs are laid which hatch after 19–20 days. The European green woodpecker measures 30–36 cm in length with a 45–51 cm wingspan. Both sexes are green above and pale yellowish green below, with yellow rump and red crown and nape; the moustachial stripe has a red centre in the male but is solid black in the female. The lores and around the white eye are black in both male and female, except in the Iberian race "P. v." subsp. "sharpei", in which it is dark grey and males have only a
Kaempfer's woodpecker red malar and mottling on its crest. For comparison, the rufous-headed woodpecker is larger and has extensive black barring on the back and underparts. Little is known about its habitat preference, but it appears to be associated with bamboo (specifically "Guadua paniculata") growing in Cerrado and babassu palm forest; very unlike the humid forest and woodland where the related rufous-headed woodpecker is found. There is no evidence to suggest that it occurs in Caatinga. Rather, the authors who proposed the common name Caatinga woodpecker and association it with the caatinga habitat mistook a place in the caatinga called Uruçuí-Una for