Distribución del Pico Mediano en la Península Ibérica. Revisión histórica crítica (siglos XIX y XX)

Abstract

The aims are to know since when there are records of the Middle Spotted Woodpecker presence in Iberia and if it’s still occupying the same localities that in early XX century. We check museum collections and did an exhaustive bibliographic search. Until 1973 it believes that there was only one population isolated in the Cantabrian Chain. Due to their recent discover populations, their abundance it’s now estimated in 1045-1205 pairs. There are only 9 specimens captured in the revised period: one male from Catalonia, at the Zoology Museum of Barcelona, and 8 specimens at the British Museum, used for the description of the lilianae subspecies. We consider that there are only 7 reliable historic records, restricted to: Pyrenees and Cantabrian Chain, and the centre of Portugal. Its presence at the Central Chain and Sierra Morena is uncertain, although we can’t discard it. Its occurrence in Portugal at XIX century indicates a bigger dispersion in the past. Their distribution and abundance knowledge seems to be a process not finished yet.