Picture courtesy of Animal Pictures Archive
An endangered species, the Red Cockaded Woodpecker is the only woodpecker in North America that makes its home in mature pine trees.Able to hammer wood at a rate of more than 100 blows per minute, it is no wonder how the woodpecker got its name. When hammering, the woodpecker uses its tail as a brace, to prop and to steady its body as it delivers its jackhammer blows.
Instead of damaging trees, the woodpecker actually helps them. It feeds on carpentar ants, thereby controlling the spread of colonies which can destroy trees.
The woodpecker's tongue is 4 times the length of its beak: quite a mouthful! The woodpecker uses its barbed tongue to probe the holes it makes and to scour out ants and other delicious insects.
The woodpecker's beak serves other functions, in addition to securing food. The woodpecker uses its beak to hollow out nests for its young. It often spreads tree sap around the perimeter of the hole to discourage predators.
The woodpecker also uses its beak to drum out messages to other woodpeckers.
Reader's Digest Books. Marvels and Mysteries of Our Animal World. Pleasantville, New York: Coronet Books. 1964.
BirdnetJones State Forest - A good place to sight the endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpecker
Birds of the Upper Texas Coast - The Red-Cockaded Woodpecker
Terry Portillo © 1999