The Toughest Birds at Your Feeders
Woodpeckers are hard-headed. It comes with the territory.
When excavating, woodpeckers can strike a tree at speeds up to 15 mph. This is enough force to create brain damage in most other birds, and certainly in our human brain. But due to a number of adaptations, woodpeckers thrive on this heavy hitting.
Woodpeckers' skulls are incredibly strong, yet lightweight, due to a reinforcing meshwork of bony support struts. This skull structure moderates the impact of the blows while transmitting the force away from the brain.
With all that pounding, why doesn’t a woodpecker’s bill wear down to a dull nub? It does wear down, however, special cells at the tip of the bill constantly replace the lost material, keeping the bill strong and sharp.
Woodpeckers' tails are as tough as their bills. Woodpeckers’ pointed tail feathers are especially strong and rigid, and their tail bones, lower vertebrae and the tail’s supporting muscles are very large in comparison to other birds.
These modifications allow a woodpecker's tail to serve as a sturdy prop that supports its weight while clinging to trees.
This behavior and many other woodpecker adaptations can be witnessed in your yard. Woodpeckers can easily be attracted to feeders filled with suet and no-melt dough, especially varieties containing nuts. Simply offer these foods in a WBU Tail Prop feeder, and you can get an up close and personal look at some of the toughest guys in the neighborhood.
Fun Facts About Woodpeckers
Downy Woodpeckers have been recorded to eat at least 44 different kinds of insects, including beetles, ants, weevils, aphids and the eggs of grasshopper, katydids and crickets.- During the winter, Downy Woodpeckers have to peck deeper into trees to find insects and favor trees with rough bark since they hold more over-wintering insects than smooth-barked trees.
- Downy Woodpeckers typically excavate new roosting cavities during the autumn months over a period of three to seven days.
- The average life-span of a Downy Woodpecker is two to five years, although some may live up to twelve years old.
- In order to increase their security and feeding efficiency, Downy Woodpeckers will often flock and forage together with chickadees, titmice, nuthatches and Hairy Woodpeckers. They rely on the other birds for early warning of predators by recognizing their alarm calls.
- When threatened by predators, Downy Woodpeckers will freeze motionless against the trunk of a tree and will not return to normal activities for up to ten minutes.
- Studies have shown that Downy Woodpeckers with access to bird feeders are in better nutritional condition than their peers. This probably results in higher rates of winter survival, especially in the submissive females.
The Pileated Woodpecker is the second largest North American woodpecker at 19" in length; hopefully the Ivory-billed is still the largest at over 20."- Sapsuckers can drill as many as fifty holes per hour into trees. These holes fill up with sap, when the sapsucker returns it soaks up the sap with its brushy-tipped tongue. They also feed on the many insects that are attracted to the sweet sap.
- Northern Flickers spend about 75% of their time foraging on the ground in search of ants.
- Northern Flickers will often roost at night on the side of a tree or structure instead of inside a nesting cavity.
- Red-bellied Woodpeckers will eat fruits, insects, an occasional frog or lizard and they have even been observed eating the eggs of chickens.
- If you want to provide good habitat for woodpeckers, consider leaving the dead tree snags in and around your yard. One study has shown that a Downy Woodpecker needs at least four to five snags per acre to meet its needs for nesting and foraging.
- Bird banding longevity records for woodpeckers: Downy = 11years - 11months; Hairy = 15years - 11months; Pileated = 12years - 11months; Red-headed = 9years - 11months; Red-bellied = 12years - 01months; Northern Flicker = 9years - 02months;
