Hongbenghe, a small village proper on the border of China’s Yunnan province and Myanmar, has quite a lot of woodpeckers. And most birders (although not all – see right here for an exception) fairly like woodpeckers, making it an excellent subject for a devoted put up.
In addition they acquired the seal of approval from the Audubon Society, which designated woodpeckers as keystone species for his or her essential position in creating habitat suited to different woodland wildlife (supply). Certainly, one research finds that the richness of woodpeckers is a dependable indicator of general hen richness in most forest stands and circumstances.
Partly, that is because of the position of woodpeckers as nature’s actual property builders (with out the bankruptcies now frequent in China) that are described intimately in an internet video, “Woodpeckers as Ecosystem Engineers”. Ornithologists name the species renting and shopping for properties from woodpeckers “secondary cavity nesters”.
The Higher Flameback has the seems to be of a traditional cartoon woodpecker, which hopefully the species will see as a praise from me.
Apparently, the scientific identify Chrysocolaptes guttacristatus (spot-crested) appears to solely seek advice from the feminine …
… to not the red-crested male.
That’s regardless of the male sometimes being dominant, as described in an remark of a household group: “The grownup male displayed dominant habits, did many of the drumming and made many of the calls”.
Encounters with different woodpecker species such because the Bay Woodpecker don’t all the time look very harmonious.
The crimson neck of this Bay Woodpecker signifies that additionally it is a male.
The species has an individualistic streak – companions keep solely unfastened acoustic contact however don’t forage shut to one another (supply: HBW), which is completely different from the Higher Flameback which is normally present in pairs or households.
There may be far more literature obtainable on the Gray-headed Woodpecker – particularly, End ornithologists (with typical End-sounding names equivalent to Pakkala, Kouki, Saari, or Mikusinski) appear to love finding out it, presumably because it shortens the commute to their analysis work.
They take a look at matters equivalent to nesting areas (“44% of all nesting makes an attempt had been in previous cavities”, supply) …
… their meals in summer time (ice cream, in fact! … no, ant colonies) and winter (bark-dwelling bugs – supply) …
… or train us new phrases equivalent to “autolycism” (Use of the alternatives supplied by the actions of one other animal, with out the hen changing into a parasite): Gray-headed Woodpeckers in Japan had been discovered to feed in holes made by the a lot bigger Black Woodpeckers after these had left the holes (supply).
Disgrace on Grammarly: It doesn’t know the phrase autolycism and tries to appropriate me. To be honest, I didn’t now it both.
And sure: once more, the crimson cap signifies the male hen.
The Higher Yellownape makes use of a special identification scheme: the throat of the male is yellow …
… whereas the feminine has a brownish throat.
Each the Higher Yellownape and the Lesser Yellownape take part in mixed-species flocks – inside these flocks, they confirmed much less vigilance, an impact that elevated with the scale of the flock (supply). Form of like a neighborhood watch method – and naturally, much less checking for predators means extra time to seek out meals. In fact, if these had been US birds, they’d be carrying weapons as nicely.
Right here with the Lesser Yellownape, we’re again to the usual woodpecker intercourse identification system: the male on the precise within the picture beneath has some further crimson elements.
Regardless of each yellownapes having simply that – a yellow nape – they aren’t significantly intently associated.
Lastly, the Stripe-breasted Woodpecker has the fairly unconvincing scientific identify Dendrocopos atratus, with atratus which means “clothed in morning” (or possibly “clothed in black”).
If I let you know that this woodpecker follows the usual woodpecker intercourse identification scheme …
… then I’m certain you may intercourse the birds in these pictures.
And suppose you’re questioning how woodpeckers keep away from mind damage (setting them aside from many gamers of US Soccer). In that case, there’s a good paper on this right here – written not by an ornithologist however by a professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and a Postdoctoral Scholar of Orthopedic Surgical procedure.
