Critters of North Idaho: Pileated woodpecker
If you’re in the woods and you hear that rapid-fire pecking sound, you instantly know that there’s a good chance you’re in a woodpecker’s neighborhood. Woodpeckers are a common sight in North America, so it can be easy for us to forget just how incredible they are. I mean, these little guys can peck wood 20 times in a second. Have you ever tried banging your face against a tree that fast?* What is it about these feathered critters that makes them experts at this feat?
The most well-known species is the Pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus), which also holds the title of our continent’s largest woodpecker species. Found only in North America, their distribution is sort of shaped like a funny-shaped horseshoe or an arch. They are common in the wooded areas (who would have guessed?) east of the Mississippi River, but they avoid the Great Plains and are found in southern Canada. Their range extends south again along the western seaboard until California. Pileated woodpeckers are known for their bold coloration. They are primarily black with white markings along the side of the face and neck. The word “pileated” means “cap,” and refers to the red crest of feathers along the head “cap.”
Ironically, not all woodpecker species peck on wood. Longtime readers of Critters of North Idaho may remember a previous entry on the northern flicker, a woodpecker that does not usually engage in this behavior. Why are only some woodpeckers true wood peckers? As animals adapt to their environment, they sometimes find it beneficial to specialize. This means they take advantage of an otherwise vacant niche in their ecosystem. Carpenter ants and wood-boring beetle grubs are high in nutrition, but most animals have no way of accessing them.
This is not the case for the pileated woodpecker. They can drive their beak into a tree to get at these insects with at least 1,000 times the force of gravity! How do they accomplish this without blasting their brains to mush? A complete list of shock-absorbing mechanisms in a woodpecker’s head would be too exhaustive to list here, but there are a few that stand out.
For one thing, their chisel-shaped beak is self-sharpening, designed to move into the wood without coming to an abrupt (and deadly) stop upon impact. Another cool feature is … its tongue. Our tongues are boneless muscles, but the tongue of a woodpecker contains a hyoid bone. The hyoid bone in woodpeckers is very long and wraps all the way around the woodpecker’s skull. As the bird pecks, the hyoid restricts the brain case’s movement much like a seat belt would hold you in place during a car crash.
Pileated woodpeckers drive their beaks into the wood until they can reach the insect squirming around inside, which they then extract with their tongue. The long tongue is covered in barbs that make the insects an easy meal.
Very few animals feed in this manner. Interestingly, one of these creatures is a mammal: it is a nocturnal species of lemur called the aye-aye. Instead of a beak, it uses its long finger to tap on the wood, helping it figure out where the insects are hiding. It then uses its teeth to tear open a hole in the bark before reaching in with its finger and pulling out the meal. What similarities to woodpeckers can you find among other animals living near you?
* The author of this article does not recommend this activity without approved woodpecker supervision. Failure to consult a woodpecker may result in a concussion, facial bleeding, or broken nose or jaw.
• • •
animaladventures1314@gmail.com
