It is resident across much of Europe and the western Palearctic but in Spain and Portugal it is replaced by the similar Iberian green woodpecker (Picus sharpei).

Though its vivid green and red plumage is particularly striking, it is a shy bird, and is more often heard than seen, drawing attention with its loud calls.

The European green woodpecker was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under its current binomial name Picus viridis.

[13] It can be distinguished from the similar, but smaller, grey-headed woodpecker by its yellowish, not grey, underparts, and the black lores and facial 'mask'.

[7] In Europe, its green upperparts and yellow rump can lead to confusion with the grey-headed woodpecker or possibly the female golden oriole, though the latter is smaller and more slender with narrower wings and longer tail.

[10] More than 75% of the range of the European green woodpecker is in Europe, where it is absent from some northern and eastern parts and from Ireland, Greenland and the Macaronesian Islands, but otherwise distributed widely.

Over half of the European population is thought to be in France and Germany, with substantial numbers also in United Kingdom, Sweden, Russia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria.

[17] The main food of the European green woodpecker is ants of the genera Lasius and Formica[15] for which it spends much of its time foraging on the ground,[10] though other insects and small reptiles are also taken occasionally.

[18] Green woodpeckers will often forage in short grazed or mown permanent grasslands where the availability of ant nests is high.

[13] Heavy, prolonged snow cover makes feeding difficult for the green woodpecker and can result in high mortality, from which it may take ten years for the population to recover.

[13] 'Professor Yaffle', the wooden bookend character in the 1974 children's animation series Bagpuss,[21][22] was based loosely upon the green woodpecker.

Other names, including rain-bird, weather cock and wet bird, suggest its supposed ability to bring on rain.

[27] The woodpecker was the totem of the Italic tribe of the Picentes,[28] and features of the coat of arms and flag of the Italian region of the Marches.