Woodpeckers (Picidae, Piciformes, Aves) of Asian Russia: review of species populations

In Asian Russia there are 10 species of woodpeckers from 5 genera and differing of stay, distribution, number and biology. This is 66.6% of the total species composition of woodpeckers in Russia. 8 species are found all year round, and 2 - Eurasian Wryneck and Rufous-bellied Woodpecker - only in the breeding season. 2 narrowly-areal species: Greyfaced and White-backed Woodpeckers, other species - Wryneck, Lesser Spotted and Great Spotted, Eurasian Three-toed Woodpeckers - are widely distributed in the studied region, and the Northern border of areas reaches, and a same species even crosses the Arctic circle. Three species - Rufous-bellied, Japanese and Gray-headed Pygmy Woodpeckers - the specific (tropical and subtropical) species, inhabit only in southern Primorye, and Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker - also on Sakhalin Island. Rufous-bellied and White-backed Woodpeckers are rare and listed in the Red books of different levels. The information given in the article covers one of the largest natural areas of the Northern Palearctic - from the Mountains of Southern Siberia to the Amur River basin and delta. The main (model) places of research were in the West - Eastern Sayan, Pribaikalia and Western Transbaikalia, Vitim plateau, southern Yakutia and Transbaikalian Region, in the East - Khabarovsk city and its surroundings. This generalization is the first after the serial publication «Birds of Russia ...» (2005) review of the Woodpeckers populations’ status in the Asian part of Russia.