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Woodpeckers and allies | Piciformes
Spechtachtigen | Pícidos y afines
The foot has two toes forward and two back, a grip that lets the bird anchor itself upright on a trunk or branch. In the region the order consists mainly of woodpeckers, with a toucan on Trinidad in addition. The Greater Antilles hold a series of endemic woodpeckers, such as Cuban Green Woodpecker and Fernandina's Flicker on Cuba, Hispaniolan Woodpecker and Antillean Piculet on Hispaniola, and Jamaican and Puerto Rican Woodpeckers; in the Lesser Antilles a woodpecker occurs only on Guadeloupe. Trinidad and Tobago have South American species. All species breed in cavities chiselled out of dead or living wood. The white eggs lie on the bare floor or on a few wood chips. The young hatch blind and naked and carry a hardened pad on the heel joint that lets them rest on that rough floor. Most species are resident; Yellow-bellied Sapsucker arrives from North America as a winter visitor.
Families in this order
- Toucans | Ramphastidae1 speciesToucans are a family of tropical Central and South America within the woodpeckers and allies, known for their very large, often brightly coloured bill. That bill is lighter than it looks: beneath a thin horny sheath lies a network of fine bony struts with much air between them, and blood flow through the bill also helps to shed body heat. Like woodpeckers, toucans have a zygodactyl foot. In the region only the Channel-billed Toucan occurs, on Trinidad and not on Tobago or the other islands; it is a large, mainly black toucan with a yellow throat and breast, red undertail coverts and a black bill with a blue base. It lives in the forest canopy, eats mainly fruit and supplements this with insects and the eggs and nestlings of other birds. The voice is a hoarse, far-carrying, croaking call. Nesting is in a tree hole, and when sleeping the bird folds its tail over its back.
- Woodpeckers | Picidae17 speciesA straight, chisel-shaped bill and a skull built to absorb the blows: the base of the bill rests on spongy bone, heavy neck muscles drive and steer the stroke, and the nostrils sit behind small covering feathers that keep out dust. The tongue is extremely long and tipped with barbs or sticky saliva; it is carried on two slender elongated bones that curve round the skull and push it far beyond the bill. In most species the tail feathers are stiff and pointed and serve as a third point of support in climbing, which goes up the trunk in short jerks, while the flight is undulating, a few beats and a dip on closed wings. Instead of song they drum: a fast series of blows on a resonant branch that announces the territory and draws a mate.