PICIDAE FAMILY – GENERALITIES
Woodpeckers and Wrynecks
The Picidae Family belongs to the Order Piciformes. This family gathers Woodpeckers, Sapsuckers, Flickers, but also Wrynecks and Piculets.
Woodpeckers form the most important part of this family.
Picidae are widespread through the world, except in Madagascar, New Zealand, Australia and the poles.
The typical morphology features of this family include a strong, straight bill, a reinforced skull, short legs and strong feet for climbing, and stiff tail feathers. They have a very long tongue, adapted to their feeding habits.
The straight, chisel-like bill is made for excavating holes in tree trunks, and the reinforced skull is able to support repeated pecks against the wood.
Short legs, strong feet and stiff tail feathers allow the birds to climb vertically and laterally along trunks and branches.
The long, sticky tongue allows to probe deeply in bark crevices, in order to reach invertebrates and concealed larvae.
Woodpeckers regularly perform drumming. Both sexes drum, but mainly the male. Drums are closely related to territorial behaviour, as advertising calls in other bird’s species.
The Woodpecker’s voice allows them to utter rattling calls and screams.
Woodpeckers are mainly arboreal species and usually frequent wooded habitats which provide them suitable nest-sites because they are cavity nesters.
They breed in tree holes. Both sexes excavate the cavity, thanks to the strong bill. The nest chamber is lined with some wood chips, and the hole is often pear-shaped.
Both sexes share the nesting duties. The clutch usually consists of 2 to 5 white eggs. Incubation lasts about 11 to 15 days, by both parents, the male mainly at night. The young leave the nest at about 3 to 4 weeks of age.
Woodpeckers feed mainly on insects and larvae, other arthropods and caterpillars. They also consume nuts, fruits and tree sap. They reach the larvae thanks to their straight bill which excavates the crevices, searching for wood-boring insects.
Woodpeckers are good fliers, performing undulating flight, and most of them are sedentary in their range.
The Wryneck belongs to the Picidae Family, but its behaviour is slightly different. This bird does not drum, and it has not stiff tail feathers. It does not excavate tree holes, and prefers to use abandoned or occupied cavities, from which it ejects eggs and nestlings before to adopt the hole. It is territorial and defends strongly the nest-site.
Woodpeckers are threatened by deforestation and habitat loss. They are vulnerable to indirect poisoning when they feed on ants or fruits in orchards, but their populations are usually secure, even if the two biggest woodpeckers are now extinct since the last century. At this moment, about 215 species are conserved in the Picidae Family.
Texte, illustration et photos de Nicole Bouglouan
Sources:
HANDBOOK OF THE BIRDS OF THE WORLD Vol. 7 by Josep del Hoyo-Andrew Elliott-Jordi Sargatal – Lynx Edicions – ISBN: 8487334377