Post-breeding moult in Great Spotted Woodpeckers. - V.A. Kovalev. - Berkut. 8 (2). 1999. P. 183-191.
In the annual cycle of Great Spotted Woodpecker there is one full post-breeding moult. The change of feathering among the majority of birds takes place from June till October. There is no difference in the time of moult starting among males and females. The beginning and ending of the moult among Woodpeckers of the same territory are stretched out for 20-25 days. The duration of post-breeding moult among separate birds is 100-110 days. During the first post-breeding moult the mitteral greater primary coverts (minimum the sixth-eighth coverts, maximum - the fourth-ninth) do not renew and among 52 % birds - secondaries (minimum the fourteenth, maximum the twelfth-fifteenth). Unmoulted feathers continue to be the feathering of the juvenile generation. The contrast in colouring and wearing off of the new and juvenile feathers allow to determine the birds in the age of two years. During next moults in the life of a bird the change of a part of secondaries and greater primary coverts takes part in a year, and the rest of the feathering changes every year. Some of the woodpeckers combines post-breeding moult with the feeding of nestlings. It is more often observed among males. The birds which have moulting during the nesting time renew only primaries (1 or 2 feathers). [Russian].
Key words: Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dendrocopos major, Leningrad region, post-breeding moult, timing, volume.
Address: V.A. Kovalev, Nizhnesvirsky Nature Reserve, 187710 Lodeynoye Pole, Leningrad region, Russia.
E e-mail: vkovalev@lodia.spb.ru.