The ivory-billed woodpecker and the imperial woodpecker are currently the rarest woodpeckers in the world, if they still exist at all. With no confirmed sightings in decades, these species are either functionally extinct or surviving in extremely low numbers, hidden in remote forests. Close behind them are the Okinawa woodpecker, tellow-faced flameback, and Fernandina’s flicker, […]
Category: Piciformes
Ivory-billed Woodpecker, the vanished Log-God
Several cases of this species existence in Arkansas and Florida (USA) have been made since 2004, but the evidence is never unchallenged. Extensive surveys have been made in south-eastern Cuba, but the last record remains of 1987. The number of individuals is now very likely tiny. This 50 cm huge black-and-white woodpecker is overall black […]
Where to find the Black Woodpecker?
The biggest European Woodpecker selects his breeding site based on some clear indicators. Read the general information about the species here in the online bird guide. This species is very important to other cavity breeding species and is as such recognized as a key species. This bird excavates cavities with a mean diameter of 51 […]
Why the woodpecker has a long beak
Know that the woodpecker was originally not a bird but an old woman with a very long nose, which she put into everybody’s pots and pans, sniffing about, eavesdropping, inquisitive and curious about everything whether it belonged to her or not, adding a little in her tale-bearing and taking off a bit from another tale, […]
Bird stories, Black-cheeked Woodpecker and Golden-olive Woodpecker
The Black-cheeked Woodpecker (Melanerpes pucherani) and Golden-olive Woodpecker (Colaptes rubiginosus) are called the tze’rej, a term that applies to a number of bigger woodpeckers. when these species cry “wek wek,†it is a a bad omen that something bad will soon happen, according to the Mopan Maya of Belize. Hull, K. & Fergus, R. AN […]
Bird stories, Pale-billed Woodpecker and Smoky Brown-woodpecker
When the pich, the Smoky Brown Woodpecker (Veniliornis fumigatus), cries thee times in a row, it is a sign that something bad is going to happen. While a home visitation is considered something of considerable joy for the Mopan and quite anticipated, the one exception is the visit of a salesperson. In fact, the Mopan […]
Bird stories, Black Woodpecker, (Dryocopus martius)
This tale is told by the peasantry in Norway. In those days when our Lord and S. Peter wandered upon earth, they came to an old wifes house, who sat baking. Her name was Gertrude, and she had a red mutch on her head. They had walked a long way, and were both hungry, and […]
Ruby-throated hummingbirds observed following yellow-bellied sapsucker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) Science Article 8 abstract The authors document an observed association between Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Ruby-throated Hummingbird. They conclude that the hummingbirds’feeding at sapsucker wells may effect the timing of hummingbird migration. by David Flaspohler and David Grosshuesch Several species of hummingbirds are known to feed at the sap wells created by […]
Altruism in nesting Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) Science Article 6 abstract Power (1975, Science 189: 142) presented the theory of altruism in describing experiments designed to test it on wild Mountain Bluebirds (Sialia currucoides). He considered his results negative, but they are pertinent to observations I presented briefly (Kilham 1971, Wilson Bull. 83: 159) but not in detail, […]
Sap tree feeding preference by Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (Sphyrapicus varius) based ontree size and species in Cheboygan County, northern lower Michigan
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) Science Article 7 abstract To test for preference in choice of sap trees, the area surrounding an active YellowbelliedSapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius ) nest was surveyed using four randomly selected20 x 20m plots at the University of Michigan Biological Station in Cheboygan County,Michigan Amanda L. McLenon, unknown Download article download full text […]