In Native American astrology, July is month of the woodpecker. 10 things you didn’t know about woodpeckers.
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Woodpeckers are part of the family Picidae. Most of them live in woodland habitats, with a few exceptions. The Gila woodpecker lives in deserts and uses cacti the way others use trees. The ground woodpecker lives in South Africa, Swaziland, and Lesotho and pecks at the earth, rather than at wood.
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A woodpecker can hit a tree trunk 100 times per minute at rates of up to 24 kilometers per hour (15 mph), an average of 12,000 times per day.
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As anyone who has ever collided with a tree will guess, woodpeckers will need some pretty poky adaptations to be able to cope with that. Their Skulls have spongy, plate-like structures to distribute the impacts, and a supportive bone called a hyoid that loops around the skull and acts rather like a seatbelt in a car. They also have powerful neck muscles, a flexible spine and upper and lower bills of different lengths, which also helps lessen the impact.
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Skull damage isn’t the only danger from pecking at trees. Pecking at trees creates flying debris, so the woodpecker has adapted ways to cope with that, as well. They have an extra eyelid which is translucent which closes before they hit the wood. It also has the function of cleaning the eye of any dust which might have got in.
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Their noses are specially adapted, too. They have soft feathers or bristles around the nostrils to stop dust from getting in and special air sacs to filter out wood dust.
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Woodpeckers’ feet are also different from those of most birds. Most birds have what are called “anisodactyl” feet, with three toes pointing forwards and one back, adapted for walking and perching. The woodpecker, on the other hand (or should I say foot?) has “zygodactyl” feet – two toes pointing forwards and two back, adapted for climbing and holding onto the bark of a tree. In addition, their tails have spiky feathers that can dig into the bark of a tree, giving the bird stability as it pecks, rather like a tripod.
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Woodpeckers don’t have as many songs or calls as most birds do, but they do have an extra means of communication – their drumming. Each species has a unique drum roll, differing in the number of beats in the roll, the length of the roll, the length of the gap between rolls and the cadence. They use their drum rolls as territorial and mating calls the way other birds use their songs.
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Some species of woodpecker feed on the sap of a tree as well as the insects inside. They partner up with Hummingbirds, which love to snack on tree sap but don’t have the bills to get at it. They not only tolerate the little hummingbirds following them around and using their holes, but they will also chase off larger birds.
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Woodpeckers mostly peck to get at boring insects and to hollow out a nest site, but one species also makes holes to stash food in. Acorn woodpeckers, found in parts of North and Central America, will make hundreds of tiny holes in trees (and even on occasion, the doors of people’s houses, making them look riddled with bullet holes) to stash their acorns in. Acorn woodpeckers live in groups and work together to defend their food stores.
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A group of woodpeckers is called a "descent."
Woodpeckers are part of the family Picidae. Most of them live in woodland habitats, with a few exceptions. The Gila woodpecker lives in deserts and uses cacti the way others use trees. The ground woodpecker lives in South Africa, Swaziland, and Lesotho and pecks at the earth, rather than at wood.
A woodpecker can hit a tree trunk 100 times per minute at rates of up to 24 kilometers per hour (15 mph), an average of 12,000 times per day.
As anyone who has ever collided with a tree will guess, woodpeckers will need some pretty poky adaptations to be able to cope with that. Their Skulls have spongy, plate-like structures to distribute the impacts, and a supportive bone called a hyoid that loops around the skull and acts rather like a seatbelt in a car. They also have powerful neck muscles, a flexible spine and upper and lower bills of different lengths, which also helps lessen the impact.
Skull damage isn’t the only danger from pecking at trees. Pecking at trees creates flying debris, so the woodpecker has adapted ways to cope with that, as well. They have an extra eyelid which is translucent which closes before they hit the wood. It also has the function of cleaning the eye of any dust which might have got in.
Their noses are specially adapted, too. They have soft feathers or bristles around the nostrils to stop dust from getting in and special air sacs to filter out wood dust.
Woodpeckers’ feet are also different from those of most birds. Most birds have what are called “anisodactyl” feet, with three toes pointing forwards and one back, adapted for walking and perching. The woodpecker, on the other hand (or should I say foot?) has “zygodactyl” feet – two toes pointing forwards and two back, adapted for climbing and holding onto the bark of a tree. In addition, their tails have spiky feathers that can dig into the bark of a tree, giving the bird stability as it pecks, rather like a tripod.
Woodpeckers don’t have as many songs or calls as most birds do, but they do have an extra means of communication – their drumming. Each species has a unique drum roll, differing in the number of beats in the roll, the length of the roll, the length of the gap between rolls and the cadence. They use their drum rolls as territorial and mating calls the way other birds use their songs.
Some species of woodpecker feed on the sap of a tree as well as the insects inside. They partner up with Hummingbirds, which love to snack on tree sap but don’t have the bills to get at it. They not only tolerate the little hummingbirds following them around and using their holes, but they will also chase off larger birds.
Woodpeckers mostly peck to get at boring insects and to hollow out a nest site, but one species also makes holes to stash food in. Acorn woodpeckers, found in parts of North and Central America, will make hundreds of tiny holes in trees (and even on occasion, the doors of people’s houses, making them look riddled with bullet holes) to stash their acorns in. Acorn woodpeckers live in groups and work together to defend their food stores.
A group of woodpeckers is called a "descent."
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Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena.
Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.
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