If rockstars were birds, they might be woodpeckers! These headbangers are a common sight at many of EALT’s conservation lands. Many are year-round residents, with the exception of the Yellow Bellied Sapsucker and Northern Flicker, whose primary food sources become inaccessible in the winter and therefore are forced to migrate. Most breeding males, and sometimes also females, have bright red or yellow heads and a black and white body and face. This makes them easier to distinguish from other bird species. But there is so much more about these species that makes them unique!
Preventing Brain Damage
Trees, more specifically their woody trunks, are key for woodpecker species. Inside dead or dying trees there is a buffet of insects, including ants and insect larvae. These bugs are what woodpeckers are normally on the hunt for. To get them, they use their long, sharp chisel of a beak to create holes that give them access to the inside of the tree where their insect prey is hiding. They can also excavate cavities for their young, as all Alberta species are cavity-nesters.
They may also bang their beaks against the tree to create drumming sounds to announce their territory or attract mates. This requires an immense amount of force from the woodpecker, which for other species, might cause serious harm to the bird.
Pileated Woodpecker. Chipping large rectangular shaped hole in tree. Source: https://photoclub.canadiangeographic.ca/mediadetail/34139716?offset=3&groupId=
In order to protect themselves, woodpeckers have a thickened skull, thanks to a plate-like spongy bone around their brain. We can think of this as an internal helmet that they never take off. Additionally, they have mastered the art of converting and displacing the energy created by each impact. With their specialized beaks, strong necks, and thick skulls, most of the energy is redirected to the rest of the body, and only 0.3% of the energy actually stays in the head area. This means their whole body takes the impact instead of just their brain. Cool, right?
That Tongue!
When it comes to eating their food, woodpeckers will use their tongue as the ultimate adaptation utensil. For instance, the Pileated Woodpecker, which excavates insects from beneath bark, has a long tongue with backward-facing barbs to snag their prey. They, as well as many other insect-eating woodpeckers, have sticky saliva to help hold on insects. In contrast, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker excavates much smaller holes to get sap to flow from a tree, and thus, has a brush-like tongue to hold onto the sap better.
With many of these species having comparatively longer tongues, one may ask “Where do they put it when they’re not using it?” The answer is, around their skull. Specifically around the back of the skull, just beneath the skin. The tongue also acts as a cushion when woodpeckers are drilling into wood, and is another way the woodpecker prevents concussions.
Woodpecker Tongue and Skull Anatomy. Source: https://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/news/science/woodpeckers-hammer-without-headaches/. Illustration by Denise Takahashi.
Sap-Loving Species
The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker has a bit of a sweet tooth. While most other species of woodpecker are out searching for insects, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is out to harvest tree sap. Instead of creating large holes to search for insects, these feathered friends drill neat lines of small shallow holes, or “sap wells”, to try to get the tree sap. These are then maintained and defended, since this is their primary food source. Insects may also become attracted to the now-exposed sap, which the sapsuckers will also feed on. When feeding their young, adults may actually collect insects and purposefully dip them into the sap wells for additional nourishment.
Yellow Bellied Sapsucker drilling sap wells. Note the red crown, and throat on males, as well as yellow on the upper chest. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren is licensed under CC by 2.0.
Sapsuckers open up a food source that other species may become interested in. For instance, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird will sometimes visit the sap wells as an additional source of nutrients, and will even nest near trees with sap wells.
Trying to ID this species? Look for a red crown (males and females), a messy white and black barred back, and a yellow tint to the upper chest. You will only find Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers in the spring and summer, as the sap runs slow and they cannot survive on just insects in the colder months.
Goodbye Trunk, Hello Ground!
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A male Northern Flicker with a red “malar” or streak on its face. It has a grey head with brown and black body. The beak is still quite long as it drills into soil for insects, or into trees to make a nesting cavity. Photo by Doris May.
The Northern Flicker, a larger species of woodpecker, is very unique in the woodpecker world. Instead of black and white patterning, it is brown with black markings. This species only uses trees as nesting cavities, which they create themselves in dead or dying trees. The rest of the time you can mostly find them on the ground foraging for insects, such as ants and beetles. You’ll see the true woodpecker spirit in them as they hammer at the soil with their beaks to get to more insects, similar to how other species of woodpeckers would peck at the bark of a tree.
Trying to ID this species? Look for a red malar (only on males), a grey head and brown body, and black stripes on back and black spots on chest. Commonly seen in parks, backyards, and wooded areas. This is another species you will only find in the spring and summer, as snow on the ground prevents them from foraging in colder months.
More Fun Facts
The Pileated Woodpecker is the largest species of woodpecker in North America, and can be found right here in Alberta. At our Boisvert’s GreenWoods Conservation Lands, a nesting pair can be found.
Woodpeckers announce their territory by rapidly drumming on trees. The particular noises they make can also help in identifying the species of woodpecker.
Woodpeckers use their stiff tail feathers to help prop them up on a tree, which gives them support when drilling holes into the wood.
Sources:
Harvey, C. (2014, August 13). How a Woodpecker Bangs Without Brain Damage. Retrieved from Audubon: https://www.audubon.org/news/how-woodpecker-bangs-without-brain-damage
Northern Flicker. (2019, August). Retrieved from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Flicker/lifehistory
Palmer, J. (2011, October 27). How woodpeckers avoid head injury. Retrieved from BBC News- Science & Envrionment: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-15458633
Sibley, D. A. (2003). The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America. Andrew Stewart Publishing Inc.
Woodpecker Biology and Behavior. (2019, August). Retrieved from Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://www.birds.cornell.edu/wp_about/biology.html
Yellow-bellied Sapscuker 516. (2019, August). Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yellow-bellied_Sapsucker_516_(36833934180).jpg
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker . (2019, August). Retrieved from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-bellied_Sapsucker/overview