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Woodpecker

Picidae

Woodpeckers (family Picidae) are a group of perching-and-climbing birds in the order Piciformes that includes woodpeckers, piculets, and wrynecks. They are best known for foraging on tree trunks and branches (often for insects in bark and wood) using a sturdy, often chisel-like bill and a specialized feeding system with a long, extensible tongue that can be barbed and sticky, supported by an elongated hyoid apparatus; their skull and head structures are adapted to absorb repeated impact. Many species use zygodactyl feet (two toes forward, two back) and stiff tail feathers to brace against vertical surfaces. Picids are broadly distributed across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, but they have not commonly in Madagascar or Australian. Most nest in cavities, and because many of those excavated holes persist and get reused by other wildlife, woodpeckers can function as important ecosystem engineers in forests and woodlands.

Woodpeckers (family Picidae) are a group of perching-and-climbing birds in the order Piciformes that includes woodpeckers, piculets, and wrynecks. They are best known for foraging on tree trunks and branches (often for insects in bark and wood) using a sturdy, often chisel-like bill and a specialized feeding system with a long, extensible tongue that can be barbed and sticky, supported by an elongated hyoid apparatus; their skull and head structures are adapted to absorb repeated impact. Many species use zygodactyl feet (two toes forward, two back) and stiff tail feathers to brace against vertical surfaces. Picids are broadly distributed across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, but they have not commonly in Madagascar or Australian. Most nest in cavities, and because many of those excavated holes persist and get reused by other wildlife, woodpeckers can function as important ecosystem engineers in forests and woodlands.