Woodpecker

Woodpecker’s scientific name is Picinea which is a part of the family Picidae. The subfamily Picinea has a variety of 180 birds including Woodpeckers. As the name suggests, it is famous for pecking into the woods. Most of the time they are found on the trunk of a tree, striking into the woods to find insects. They also peck dead woods to make nest holes where they can live.

Woodpeckers are commonly found worldwide except in a few places. These excluded areas are New Zealand, New Guinea, Australia, and polar regions. These stunning birds are amply found in Southeast Asian and South American countries. They mostly like to live in forests and woodland areas where they can get enough trees. However, only some species like the Gila Woodpecker survive in rocky or desert areas. 

Some Woodpeckers don't peck wood at all. They survive in the ground by making holes through the grounds to form their nests. Also, they pick up insects from the ground for a living. These Woodpeckers are found in rocky and grassy mountains located in South Africa.

Woodpecker Characteristics

Woodpecker information may vary as there are multiple types. The size of Woodpeckers starts from 7cm in length. Also, some Woodpeckers are 50cm long! This means some Woodpeckers may weigh around 0.25 oz while other types may have a weight of around 20 oz.

The colors of Woodpeckers are diverse. Some are multicolored while some have black bodies tinted with olive and brown. The common Woodpeckers in Southern Asia have black bodies with white spots and yellow shades along with red feathers on the head. These color combinations are important for camouflage.

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Except for some, most Woodpeckers have short legs with zygodactyl feet. While two toes face forward, the other two are bent backward. This toe arrangement helps them to get a good grip of the trunk and move vertically up to the tree. 

Woodpeckers have sharp and strong beaks for effective drilling into the trunk. The long sticky tongue helps them grasp insects. To prevent brain damage due to repeated drilling and pecking, Woodpeckers have certain features. 

Woodpeckers have a flexible and small brain. Its subdural cavity is narrow with minimal CSF which controls and restricts the movement of the brain inside the skull preventing severe brain damage. The CSF also monitors brain orientation with the skull allowing short contact. 

The skull has soft and flexible bones covering the forehead and the backside of the skull. Another special feature is the hyoid bone. This bone supports the skull as well as the spinal cord. It goes around the braincase going through both sides of the spinal cord and ends at the right nostril cavity. This bone safeguards the brain. 

Varieties of Woodpeckers

There are a variety of Woodpecker species. These are distinct in size, color, and habitat choice. The commonly found Woodpeckers are the pileated Woodpecker, which is around 15-18 inches long and widely found in North America. The Downy Woodpecker is another species found in North America, generally 6 inches long, which prefers temperate woodlands and gardens. 

Another category is the black Woodpeckers that are 18 inches long and located in the woodlands of Eurasia. The 9 inches long great spotted Woodpecker is popularly traced in North America, South Eurasia, mostly in temperate woodlands and gardens. Another temperate North American Woodpecker is a Hairy Woodpecker with a length of 8-9.8 inches.

Sapsuckers feed on the sap of the trees while some survive on fruits and berries. Throughout North America to Columbia, acorn Woodpeckers of 8 inches are found. These species keep a stock of food in the trunk holes for winter. The red-headed Woodpecker is 7-9 inches long located in rocky areas, farmlands, and woodlands.

The aforementioned Woodpeckers have four toes. But some types of Woodpeckers have three toes. These come under the genus Picoides. The northern three-toed Woodpeckers are found in the Southern and Northern areas of the subarctic mountains. Another three-toe type is black-back Woodpeckers that are broadly located in the Central forest areas of Canada.

Across the woodlands of India and the Philippines islands, crimson-backed Woodpeckers are widely available. Across the woodlands located in Eurasia, North Africa that extends up to the South, green Woodpeckers are found. 

The United States has huge breeding areas for Woodpeckers. The southeastern part of the States has areas for red-bellied Woodpeckers. The stunning 18 inches long ivory-billed Woodpeckers are found in the southern area of the United States and Cuba. However, ivory-billed Woodpeckers are rare and some belief them to be extinct.

Another type of Woodpecker is Wryneck which makes the subfamily Jynginea. It is known for its feature of shaking necks in response to sounds, dangers, etc. It has a gray-brown color and survives in the brushlands and woodlands. Wrynecks mostly in old Woodpecker holes. They eat ants from the ground and insects from the woods by pecking. They are generally 6.5 inches long and are found in Japan, England, and Eurasia. The red-breasted wryneck, however, lives in Africa. 

While these are only the commonly known and found Woodpeckers, there are a variety of Woodpeckers available all around the world. 

Lifestyle of Woodpeckers

Lifestyles are different for different species. Some Woodpeckers live solitary lives while some prefer to live in a group. Their common behaviors include head shaking and sharp vocalization. They are also known for heavily drilling and pecking through the woods. Woodpeckers roam in the daylight and rest in their nest at night. 

Drumming is a common characteristic of the Woodpecker bird. They peck into the wood vigorously and repeatedly. They take breaks and start drumming again. Male Woodpeckers do this more often than female Woodpeckers. This works like a territorial call. This is a sign to other Woodpecker mates and various drumming patterns have different meanings that the species understand. 

Their voice is high-pitched and different Woodpeckers have diverse ways of calling. Some Woodpeckers make rattling sounds while the other species whistle. Some species wail and scream. Some other Woodpeckers make nasal churrs. However, each type of calling pattern carries a message to the fellow Woodpeckers. Some calls denote danger while some calls indicate a call for food. 

Woodcutter birds often make low-pitched sounds as well. Woodpecker couples usually make low-pitched sounds when they are in the nest. The interval between each call also carries a message to the other Woodpeckers. 

Feeding of Woodpeckers

As mentioned before, more Woodpeckers survive on picking insects either from the woods or the ground. They mostly collect insects like ants, termites, caterpillars, beetles, spiders, lizards, bird eggs, arthropods, tiny rodents, etc. However, some Woodpeckers prefer to eat fruits and nuts that they also keep in stock for the winter. Woodpeckers rarely eat crustaceans, molluscs, or carrion. 

Some Woodpeckers are able to catch flying insects. Some of them also collect insects from leaves, under the barks, and other parts of the tree. They also directly attack the nests of the insects like ants and termites. Also, some species fully rely on gathering insects from under the ground. 

Interesting Woodpecker facts include their ability to stop a mass infestation in the trees. As they feed on the insects, it keeps an ecological balance that keeps the trees free from infestation. Not only from the outside of the trees but they also collect insects from inside the bark by making a tiny hole and sucking the insect by their sticky tongues. This helps to keep the core of the tree free from infestations.

Some Woodpeckers also feed on the tree sap. Mainly, the sapsuckers drill through the woods and collect sap from the trunks. Acorn Woodpeckers and white-headed Woodpeckers also feed on the sap of trees. Arabian Woodpeckers and great spotted Woodpeckers are other categories that feed on tree sap. 

The Breeding Pattern of Woodpeckers

The main features of Woodpecker include making holes in the barks and making nests inside the holes. They mostly choose rotten or dead woods to make such nests. In places where there are inadequate trees, they make nests in large cacti. Some Woodpeckers fully rely on the ground making holes under the earth and live there.

Some Woodpeckers also make nests in the bamboo forests. Some occupy the nests of termites and ants. In urban areas, they choose wooden utility poles to make their nests. However, wrynecks are unable to make their own nests. They need to find a premade nest to settle. Woodpeckers usually collect wood pieces to make the nest. They make flooring with these wood pieces inside the hole. 

Premade holes are often occupied by other Woodpeckers and thus there remains a constant competition to make a nest. Even other birds like sparrows may start breeding the holes and in such situations, Woodpeckers need to fight violently to take over the place. 

Most Woodpeckers are monogamous while only a few species are polygamous. In rare cases, a group of Woodpeckers may take care of the young. Researchers say that group breeding is more successful than individual breeding. 

Fun Facts

1. Did you know that a Woodpecker protects trees from infestations? It maintains ecological balance by collecting insects from the outside and inside the trees. This prevents mass infestation in trees protecting them from damage.

2. A Woodpecker is the only species in the animal kingdom that can make sounds that aren't inside from their body. They drum in various ways on different things to send signals to the other Woodpeckers. Each drumming pattern carries different messages.

3. Though we get to see only a few types of Woodpeckers, there are around 200 different species of Woodpeckers!

4. Woodpeckers need at least a month to drill a big enough hole to make the nest.

More about Woodpeckers

Woodpeckers fall under the family of Picidae/Picinae. The family of picinae are called true Woodpeckers and there are about 180 species of Woodpeckers who constitute this subfamily. The main characteristic feature of a Woodpecker is that it probes for insects inside the tree bark and also chisels net holes in deadwood. The subfamily picinae also includes the wrynecks, sapsuckers and piculets. Woodpeckers who belong to this family can be found worldwide, the exceptions being Australia, Madagascar, New Zealand and New Guinea and also the extreme polar regions. However, Woodpeckers can be found in abundance in Southeast Asia and South America. The nature of most of the Woodpeckers is residential, However, few temperature zone species are an exception. For example, the North American yellow-bellied sapsucker and the flicker, both are migratory. Some of the Woodpeckers are known for living in treeless areas such as deserts and rocky hillsides, the examples of such Woodpeckers are Gila Woodpeckers which are specialized in exploiting Cacti.

Members of this family mostly communicate by drumming their beak, which then produces a reverberatory sound that can be heard at some distance. Some of the species of Woodpeckers have variations in their diet like fruits, small animals, birds’ eggs, human scraps, and tree saps. The abandoned holes of Woodpeckers are of importance to other cavity-nesting birds. Woodpeckers help in removing insect pests on trees.

Animalia is the kingdom to which the Woodpeckers belong, Their phylum is Chordata, class is Aves, the order is Piciformes, their infraorder is picides and family is piscinae or Picidae. There are nine families of Woodpeckers that come under the infraorder Piciformes,  some of them are as follows- barbets, honeyguides, toucans, clade pici, puffbird and jacamars come under clade Galbuli

There are 11 types of known Species of Woodpeckers, they are as Follows

• Red-Headed Woodpecker

• Red-Bellied Woodpecker

• Downy Woodpecker

• Hairy Woodpecker

• Acorn Woodpecker

• Northern Flicker

• Pileated Woodpecker

• American Three-Toed Woodpecker

• Gila Woodpecker

• Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker

• Ladder Backed Woodpecker