Woodpeckers are birds that are part of the Picidae family. There are over 200 species of woodpeckers in the world, and they live in different habitats such as forests, urban settings, jungles, and even deserts.
Habitat
Woodpeckers inhabit different types of areas all over the world. The only places that woodpeckers are not found in are New Zealand, Madagascar, Australia, and Antarctica. Woodpeckers usually live in wooded habitats, as they thrive most in these places.
Diet
Woodpeckers have quite a flexible diet as they feed on insects and other invertebrates (animals without a backbone), which make their homes in trees. Additionally, they eat nuts, fruit, seeds, spiders, caterpillars, bird eggs, termites, ants, saps, lizards, small rodents, beetles, and various other food along these lines. Woodpeckers are omnivores, which means that they can survive by feeding on both plants and animals.
Woodpeckers have really long tongues which they use to capture their prey, which is hidden in trees and other areas they look for food. Certain species of woodpeckers have long and barbed tongues, allowing them to capture their prey with more ease. Another fact about woodpeckers is that they have small bristles on their nostrils to prevent them from inhaling the wood particles when they are drumming.
Common Species of Woodpecker
There are over 200 woodpecker species in the world, and the most common of these species are the following: Northern Flicker(Colaptes auratus), Red-Bellied Woodpecker(Melanerpes carolinus), Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus varius), Ladder-Backed Woodpecker(Dryobates scalaris), Acorn Woodpecker(Melanerpes formicivorus), Red-Headed Woodpecker(Melanerpes erythrocephalus), and the Hairy Woodpecker(Dryobates villosus).
The largest known woodpecker is the great slaty woodpecker of southeast asia. Great slaty woodpeckers can reach lengths up to 58 centimeters(1 foot, 10.8 inches) and can weigh up to 563 grams(1.2 pounds). The smallest woodpeckers in the world are the piculets, and they measure at around 3-4 inches(7.6-10.2 centimeters) in length. There are around 30 different piculets species in the world.
Behavior
Some woodpecker species live in colonies while others live alone. The ones that live on their own for the majority of their lives will act aggressively towards other animals, even of the same species. The aggressive behavior is portrayed through head shaking, wing flapping, chasing, and drumming/vocalization. Woodpeckers are monogamous, which means that they mate with one partner for their entire lives.
Communication
Woodpeckers cannot produce vocal songs, but they can make chirps and other types of bird calls. To communicate, woodpeckers drum on objects which are hollow such as trees, logs, utility poles, chimneys, gutters, trash cans, and any objects which echo loudly.
There are various reasons why woodpeckers drum. Some of these reasons include; attracting a partner, establishing their territory, and just to communicate with other woodpeckers. Woodpeckers have reinforced skulls, which is the reason they don’t hurt their heads when they drum. The impact of the drumming is spread, and their brains are very cushioned, meaning that the woodpeckers do not hurt themselves by repeatedly drumming on trees and other objects.
A woodpecker can peck 20 times in just one second, and it peaks around 10,000 – 20,000 times a day.
