memories follow such old patterns. I don’t remember what i had for dinner last night, but i remember sitting in my first- grade classroom, listening to my grey-haired teacher talk about flames.
“be careful”, she said, ” they look pretty when they flicker but they can easily become a fire.’
years have passed since then, but it’s a lesson that has never left me. it comes back in the form of a perfectly timed raindrop that rolls lazily down my spine just seconds before the sound of thunder.
years have passed and this pattern has somehow found its way to people too. my eyes drowsily trace around his fingertips and suddenly i am that same little girl sitting cross-legged on the classroom floor wondering.
will things always be most beautiful night before they destroy you?
Some of days ago , i come to know that birds to have enemies. I was watching tv as my normal routine and i was amazed by seeing that a tiny starling bird pair win in fight of nest , and that too from a woodpecker.
Woodpeckers are birds that live in nearly every region of the world except for New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, Australia, and both the North and South Pole. The family Picidae includes 236 species of woodpeckers. About 20 of these species are in danger of extinction.
They are master excavators, noisy borers and the basis for a cartoon character
Facts
* A woodpecker’s tongue is typically twice the length of its beak, able to reach into crevices for insects. The bird’s tongue or its saliva is sticky, too, so it can cling to its prey.
* The woodpecker’s tongue wraps around the back of its head between the tissue and the bone, acting as a shock absorber when the bird is drumming.
* Woodpeckers are birds with feathers on their noses that keep wood debris out of the bird’s nostrils while it is boring holes.
* Woodpeckers use their jackhammer-like beaks to dig out bugs, but they also drum their bills to create rhythms for attracting mates, staking a claim, and sometimes, just for fun.
* Woodpeckers can grow to incredible sizes! The largest woodpecker ever, the imperial woodpecker was nearly 23 inches in length but is potentially extinct today.
Where to Find Woodpeckers
Woodpeckers live almost everywhere in the world, wherever there are woodsy habitats. A small number of species prefer rocky areas instead, and one species, the Gila woodpecker, subsists on a diet of cacti in its desert habitat. These birds do not live in the extreme polar regions, Australasia or Madagascar.
Common Types of Woodpeckers
Downy Woodpecker – The downy woodpecker is the smallest type of woodpecker in North America, measuring up to 7 inches long. They generally live in forested areas within tree cavities that are hollowed out by nesting pairs.
Downy Woodpecker
Gila Woodpecker – The gila woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker that inhabits the southwestern United States and western Mexico and range from 8 to 10 inches in size. These woodpeckers prefer to nest in saguaro cacti in the low desert scrub of the Sonoran desert.
Gila Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker – The hairy woodpecker grows to approximately 10 inches in length and are similar in appearance to the downy woodpecker. These birds are known to follow pileated woodpeckers and pick through insects that the larger birds may have missed.
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker – The pileated woodpecker is a large species that can grow up to 19 inches in length and is native to North America. These birds prefer mature forests and excavate large holes within dead trees to roost at night.
Pileated Woodpecker
Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker – The yellow-bellied sapsucker ranges from 7-8 inches in size and inhabits Canada and the northeastern United States. These birds are migratory, traveling as far south as Panama in the summer months.
Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
Woodpecker: The Bird’s Size, Appearance & Behavior
Ranging in size from the tiny piculet, which measures less than three inches from tip to tail, to the pileated and great slaty woodpeckers, which measure up to 20 inches in length, the size of these distinctive birds varies significantly.
With a few exceptions, all woodpeckers share distinctive features, though, such as:
A chisel-tipped beak
Zygodactyl feet with opposing toes
A contrasting crest or feathery tuft on the crown
Strong short legs
Stiff tail for balance
Exceptionally long, sticky tongues
Shock-absorbing skull bone
Nostril feathers to prevent inhaling debris
Woodpecker Diet
Insects and their larvae are the mainstay of the woodpecker’s diet, but they eat other foods too. Birds’ eggs, baby birds, small rodents, or reptiles are all part of a woodpecker’s diet if they are available. As omnivores, woodpeckers eat fruit, nuts, and even tree sap.
Like most birds, the woodpecker plays an important role in the health of the natural environment. By boring holes in trees and extracting insects with its long, sticky tongue, this bird helps prevent potentially harmful insect damage. For example, woodpeckers eat the larvae of the emerald ash borer beetle, which was responsible for the destruction of millions of ash trees in North America.
In turn, three woodpecker species have benefitted as well. The red-bellied, downy and hairy woodpecker species have enjoyed a population surge since adding the emerald ash borer beetle to their diets.
They use their long, chisel-like bills to excavate trees in search of food or create roosting/nesting habitat. One telltale sign of a pileated woodpecker’s presence is an excavated tree with large rectangular-shaped holes and large woodchips scattered on the ground below. If you ever find yourself thinking, “Wow! Something really exploded that tree!” it could have been the handiwork of one of these woodpeckers.
Woodpeckers are not songbirds, but both males and females do vocalize to express warnings, attraction, and territorialism. Their range of calls includes:
Twitters
Trills
Whistles
Chattering
Shrieks
Wails
Rattles
Each species sounds somewhat different, but the sounds they make are loud enough to travel in densely forested habitat. Even baby nestlings communicate with their parents with sounds.
Most species do not migrate but remain in their chosen habitat year-round. Two types that do migrate are the yellow-shafted flicker of the eastern U.S., whose scientific name is Colaptes auratus, and the North American yellow-bellied sapsucker, whose scientific name is Sphyrapicus varius.
Woodpecker: The Bird’s Predators and Threats
Loss of habitat due to human encroachment is the most significant threat to woodpeckers worldwide. For example, insecticides that big agricultural companies use to eliminate crop-eating pests wipe out a major food source for the local woodpecker population.
In the natural environment, woodpeckers are under threat from predators even before they hatch. Snakes and birds like grackles steal in and eat the eggs in an unprotected nest. Feline predators of adult birds include feral cats, bobcats and mountain lions. Some of the canine threats include foxes and coyotes. Larger birds of prey such as hawks may also consider woodpeckers to be part of a balanced diet.
Woodpecker Reproduction, Babies and Lifespan
Woodpeckers will nest in existing holes in tree trunks, but when necessary, they will excavate their own. Some woodpeckers will even nest in a telephone pole or a human dwelling. Most species use a nesting site for a single breeding season and then move on.
Woodpeckers are monogamous with a few exceptions. For example, acorn woodpeckers may establish a breeding group of up to 12 birds and then raise the nestlings together.
Females lay two to five eggs. Because they are protected within the tree trunk, woodpecker eggs have a better chance of hatching into live chicks than those in more exposed nests. Both parents take turns keeping the eggs warm for the 12-14 days of incubation.
Once a baby first hatches, it develops quickly and is ready to leave the nest in about 30 days. On average, woodpeckers live between four and 12 years. Some can live up to 30 years if environmental conditions are just right.
Starlings And Woodpeckers: Eternal Enemies
The European starling is a formidable competitor of many North American woodpecker species. One of the favorite nest sites of a starling is a fresh woodpecker hole. Such nest sites attract starlings like a biological magnet, particularly if the woodpecker’s cavity is located in an urban open area or area with scattered trees. In the eastern United States and Canada, starlings compete primarily with three North American woodpecker species: flicker, red-bellied woodpecker, and red-headed woodpecker. Starlings, for the most part, have proven themselves superior in out competing all of these woodpecker species. The aggressive red-headed woodpecker will prevail more often in defending its nest hole against starlings than the flicker or red-bellied woodpecker; the red-bellied is an inferior competitor with starlings compared to the other woodpeckers. Though all these woodpeckers have much more powerful bills and could easily kill a starling with a well-placed blow, they rarely do it. Woodpeckers, for the most part, are just not on equal terms behaviorally with the starling. The starling’s aggressive behavior, persistence, and powerful physical attributes will often prevail over the stronger woodpeckers. Starlings will literally fight to the death inside a nest cavity. Most woodpeckers do not have such a killing instinct to procreate and will yield to such aggression from starlings.
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