Contrôles par Condition for Pic épeiche

Most encounters are obtained since the early 2000s. They are generally distributed evenly throughout the year. The bulk of encounters are recorded in NW, C, N & W Europe – ca. 94% combined (39, 23, 18 and 14% respectively).

The encounters based on dead birds largely decreased over the years (from 72% pre-1960 to just 2% after 1991), while those based on alive birds – markedly increased (from ca. 25% to 97% respectively); the latter is mostly due to ringing encounters. Shooting was significant factor in the past, with 12% of all cases before 1960. A variety of recovery condition categories related to human activities (though, currently constituting a small share) has been achieved as a result of the numerous urban populations close-existing to humans.

Annual Movements for Pic épeiche

In N populations, post-breeding dispersal is evident Aug-Oct and return movements in spring – Mar-Apr (mid-May) (Noskov et al. 2016). Finnish data suggest even wider margins for the autumn dispersal – from late Jul to early Nov (Saurola et al. 2013).

Dominant movement pattern in the birds breeding in N Europe follows NE – SW direction, leading to subsequent encounters as far as SC & SW Europe Oct-Nov, but mostly in the Baltic & North Sea regions; some birds take SE routes, reaching E Europe as early as Sep.

Adult birds ringed in Mar in Finland and subsequently encountered in May further E in Russia suggest post-invasion return.

Crossing of the Alps sometimes possibly takes place – a dispersing juvenile marked in Switzerland has been encountered in S Italy.

Altitudinal migration has been locally recorded as well (Keller et al. 2020).

Connectivité par mois par région pour Pic épeiche

Species’ irregular irruptions are often explained by increased population density or lack of food (cone crops) (Lindén et al. 2011); however, the latter factor is sometimes questioned (Sokolov et al. 2013). The sample size of distant recoveries (>=50 km) show mostly short- to medium-distance movements, rarely long-distance movements – data mainly from N & E Europe. More than half of them (58%) are less than 250km away from the ringing site, and 76% – within 500km.

Post-breeding dispersal movements in N European populations start in late summer and last until mid- to late autumn. The birds are encountered mostly SW (as far as SW France and Italy), but also SE from the ringing sites (Belarus, European Russia). Spring movements take place early- to mid/late spring.

Ringing data from France and SE Europe extremely limited.