Woodpeckers and allies | Piciformes

Families in this order

• African barbets | Lybiidae26 speciesStocky birds with a large head, a short neck and a heavy bill, broad at the base and notched along the cutting edge in many species; a ring of stiff bristles surrounds the bill base and nostrils and gives the group its name. Food is mainly fruit, figs above all, with the berries of the branch-growing mistletoes and, in the breeding season, insects and termites; the seeds pass or are regurgitated undamaged, so the family has a share in the spread of both plant groups. The nest cavity is chiselled out by the birds themselves in dead, soft wood: in the tinkerbirds a round hole barely two centimetres across in a dead trunk or branch, often on its underside. The voice is monotonous and carries far — in the small species a tapping or knocking note repeated on one pitch for minutes on end, in the larger ones a duet in which male and female place their notes in turn, with the head swaying, the throat puffed and the wings flicked. Black and white are combined with red or yellow on forehead, throat or rump, the bill is pale to horn-coloured, and young birds largely lack that head pattern. Outside the breeding season pairs and family parties stay together and roost communally in a hole.
• Woodpeckers | Picidae15 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.
• Honeyguides | Indicatoridae8 speciesAn Old World family centred on Africa, with eight species of Indicator and Prodotiscus in this region. Honeyguides are plain grey-brown to olive birds with short, stout bills. Their zygodactyl feet have two toes forward and two back. Many show white outer tail feathers that flash in flight. All are brood parasites. Indicator species lay in the cavity nests of barbets, woodpeckers, bee-eaters and kingfishers, and the female sometimes punctures the host's eggs. The hatchling carries needle-sharp hooks on the bill tips, used to kill the host's young; the hooks are later lost. The honeybirds (Prodotiscus) instead parasitise small passerines with open cup nests, such as white-eyes and flycatchers. The family is unique in being able to digest beeswax, aided by gut microbes. Wax is eaten alongside bee brood, other insects and scale-insect secretions, and thick skin gives protection against stings. The Greater Honeyguide actively leads people to wild bee colonies. It attracts attention with a persistent, rattling chatter, flies ahead in short stages and waits to be followed. It then feeds on the comb left behind once the nest has been opened. In northern Mozambique, honey-hunters summon the bird with a traditional call, and experiments have shown it responds specifically. Guiding of honey badgers is often claimed but scarcely documented.