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Woodpeckers and allies | Piciformes
Spechtachtigen | Pícidos y afines
Worldwide this order also includes toucans and barbets; this book covers only the woodpecker family. What the whole order shares is a zygodactyl foot, with two toes forward and two back, giving a firm grip on a vertical trunk. Woodpeckers use a strong, chisel-shaped bill to hack into wood in search of insect larvae or to excavate a nest cavity, while a reinforced skull and a long, barbed tongue absorb the impact and retrieve the prey. Stiff tail feathers brace against the trunk, and in many species drumming on hollow wood or metal takes the place of song as a territorial signal. The clutch is incubated in a self-excavated cavity, and the naked chicks stay in the nest.
Families in this order
- Woodpeckers | Picidae22 speciesSome species in the family drill not tunnels toward larvae but neat rows of shallow wells in the bark, from which sap wells up and is licked up along with the insects it attracts; the wells are maintained and revisited for days. Other species gather large quantities of acorns or other nuts in autumn and wedge them one by one into individually drilled holes in a dead trunk, turning it into a winter larder. The drumming pattern used to mark a territory differs between species in speed and length of the roll, and so can be told apart by ear from one woodpecker to another. Once vacated, nest cavities are often taken over by chickadees, ducks or other hole-nesters unable to excavate one themselves, so the family indirectly provides nest sites for dozens of other bird species.