Woodpeckers don’t miss a beat.
Compare them to the finest drummers — Ringo Starr, John Bonham, Buddy Rich or your favorite — in terms of their cadence, strength and flair.
Late winter is the time for woodpeckers to really put on a show of their drumming finesse. Their percussive predilections — also called tapping, tattooing and rapping — are at their most intense at this time of year. Woodpeckers drum to attract a partner, communicate with others, establish territories and find food. Drumming is at its peak in the morning and is practiced by both sexes.
Different species beat to a different drummer. Woodpeckers can be identified by this hard-hitting habit. The downy woodpecker pecks about 15 times per second, pausing between series for .25 to 1.5 seconds. The larger hairy woodpecker is a faster tapper, with at least 25 taps per seconds and a pause of 20 seconds or more. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers start their drumming strong and peter out like an engine running out of gas.
The holes that they make in trees are their species’ autographs. Pileated woodpeckers excavate rectangular holes, while the sapsucker’s row of round cavities cannot be mistaken for any other bird. The size of the holes gives an indication as to who drilled it: the bigger the hole, the bigger the woodpecker that made it.
Even as woodpeckers beat their heads against the wall of your house or a tree, they don’t hurt themselves. Adapted for what can be more than 12,000 blows to the head per day, their percussion does not lead to concussion. Thick skulls that are close to the bird’s brain provides cushioning and protection. Strong neck muscles prevent straining and some species have tongues that have a support bone called the hyoid that wraps around their brain to prevent damage.
That long tongue also helps woodpeckers to find food, reaching deep into the cavities it has created. The red-bellied woodpecker has a tongue that extends three times its bill length.
Woodpeckers have other parts that work in concert to thwart their thrashings. Ear plugs won’t help since woodpeckers need their acute hearing, which allows them to detect beetle larvae munching on deadwood in a stump. These birds protect their eyes with a third eyelid called a nictitating membrane that helps clear the dust and wood bits that fly from the tree. Stiff, sticky bristles at the base of its bill block that sawdust from going up its nostrils.
Wild wonders of woodpeckers don’t end there. To maneuver, woodpeckers have zygodactyl feet with two toes forward and two back to hold fast to a tree’s vertical surface; most songbirds have a three forward and one toe back arrangement. Their bill, which takes a beating, can replace itself as it wears down. Don’t forget the tail that supports them when they hold it against the tree for stability.
Though they drum to their own beat, woodpeckers will also make other sounds, including churrs, peeks, piks, screeches, rattles, and chatters. But they don’t sing songs as other birds do.
So listen now for the drum roll announcing another performance by a rap star at the top of the pecking order.
Suzan Bellincampi is islands director for Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown and the Nantucket Wildlife Sanctuaries. She is also the author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature and The Nature of Martha’s Vineyard.
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