Today we’ll talk about woodpecker. Who is he, what he eats, where he lives - we will consider all these topics.
Woodpecker Description
A woodpecker is an unusual bird that lives exclusively in forests, just because there are a lot of trees. Their tail feathers are very stiff, and their claws are sharp, which makes them climb trees very well. The beak of these birds is strong and sharp, and the muscles on the neck are strong, due to which they can hammer out thick wood, tear off the hard bark without prejudice to their health. Many people are interested in why woodpeckers don’t have a headache from such strokes and there is no concussion.
Chinese scientists conducted a study of the bird and concluded: in a bird, the brain is very close to the skull, because of which it can not be shaken. There are many varieties of woodpeckers: there are more than 200 species. In our forests, one of the most common, called the big mottled, was revealed.
"Bird in flight"
A woodpecker flies in the forest with great reluctance, but if necessary, then flutters very quickly due to the endurance and strength of the wings. This bird likes to fly from one branch to another. Most of their time they crawl along the trunks with pleasure. A woodpecker on a tree feels like a fish in water. He can climb on it, not only up, but also upside down, feeling perfectly at the same time.
Danger
If he sees danger, he does not immediately fly away, but hides behind the back of the trunk and sits there, periodically sticking his head out. If the predator crept very close, only then the woodpecker flaps its wings and flies away from the enemy. As you understand, this is an incomplete description of a woodpecker. Since these birds are very diverse, each species has its own habits, habits and so on. These creatures are defenseless, therefore hawks, falcons, eagle owls and other similar predators pursue them. Magpies destroy their nests. Therefore, woodpeckers know very well the places in their forest where you can hide from predators. Thanks to this, they feel comfortable in this area, react quickly to any kind of danger, are well-versed in how to get food.
Feeding poultry in the warm season
What does a woodpecker eat in the forest in summer? He is looking for insects that are on the surface of the bark and under it. It can be a variety of bugs, caterpillars, butterflies, bark beetles. By their actions, woodpeckers often save trees from disease. Therefore, they are called forest orderlies. But only in those places where there are diseased trees that are eaten by bugs. If the woodpecker switches to a young healthy tree, begins to hammer it, spoil the bark, then from the orderly he turns into a pest. Also, this bird can eat some vegetation, for example, berries, seeds, even nuts - depending on the time of year.
In the warm season, he feeds most often on small invertebrate insects, which he finds on the surface of trees, shrubs and under their bark. If a woodpecker wants to get food from a deep gap, he sticks his tongue there, which is very long and sticky (prey sticks to it). Thus he takes food out of the far corners. When we examined these birds, we concluded that at the end of summer they mainly consume those insects that harm the forest (live in the tissues of the trunks). In early summer, a woodpecker can find raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, which he eats with pleasure. In search of food, the bird prefers to examine trees such as oak and beech, which are already drying up. Woodpeckers do not really like ash and birch, so they fly over them in a pinch. Linden and aspen are definitely not their trees. If these birds saw a place where there is a lot of food, then they do not fly away from there until it is exhausted.
If the woodpecker gets on dead land mixtures, then he likes to sit in the middle of the trunk or on the upper crown more. The woodpecker seems defenseless, but if desired, it can become a predator: if he sees the nest of a weaker bird, he flies there, breaks its eggs, eats the chicks. As it turned out, he will not refuse meat. In the summer, woodpeckers are quite extensive. In the fall it is harder for them to look for food. But they still find it, because they eat seasonally.
Nutrition in the fall
What does a woodpecker eat in the forest in autumn? The study showed that its food is mountain ash, juniper, lingonberry, plum kernel, nuts. Usually, the woodpecker harvests acorns for the winter, but does not eat them in the autumn. But he crushes plum bones or walnut very interestingly. Lays them in a crack that has formed on the bark of a tree. It breaks through the shell so that a wide opening is obtained, and takes out the core from there. Woodpeckers do not care what thickness a bone or nut has, thanks to its hard beak, it can cope with any shell.
He also managed to get the seed of a coniferous tree, which is still green - it is spruce, pine, fir, cedar and others. Woodpeckers eat this food mainly starting in October, and end in the month of March, sometimes in early April. When extracting seeds, they do not forget to hollow trees in search of invertebrates.
Winter meals
Scientists examined this bird and determined what the woodpecker eats in the forest in winter. Often, these birds can be found in landings that are very close to residential buildings - they are often fed by people (they build feeders and hang in the nearest public gardens). In such places there are trees too, in the bark of which you can get various insects, beetles. But in the winter, there are very few of them, so woodpeckers can often be seen on conifers, where cones grow. When scientists found out what the woodpecker eats in winter, then teachers began to give schoolchildren, mainly in labor lessons, to make feeders for birds so that it was a little easier for birds to survive.
In the cones are already ripe, nutritious and tasty seeds, which these birds get very interesting. They shove the bump between the slots so that it fits very tightly and does not fall. Holding her breast, the woodpecker strikes her with his strong beak, thus revealing her scales, and takes out everything edible from there. They usually do not tolerate the larch fruit, but click right on the spot. If the cones are very large and inconvenient to insert a gap, they can lower their find to the ground and select seeds there. Also, these birds are found in various landfills, where you can find crumbs or small caterpillars. That's what a woodpecker eats in winter.
How much do they eat?
Large birds can eat spruce seeds (up to 10 grams per day) and pine (about 6 grams). When the cones need to be gouged, the birds make forges of themselves from dry crevices or stumps. If the woodpecker does not find special holes, then he can make such holes himself without special effort so that a stone, nut or coniferous fruit can be inserted there.
They make many forges so that when they find solid food nearby they should carry it (usually it is no more than 10 meters). In this case, the woodpecker puts the pine fruit in an upright position, and the spruce in the transverse. He simply makes a big hole in the nut so that the kernel can be easily taken out of it. It turns out that the woodpecker is still not easy to survive in the winter, like many animals.
Food in the spring season
The long-awaited spring is coming. What does the woodpecker eat in the forest during this period? First of all, after the winter, he needs to fatten, so he immediately looks for the nests of small birds, where the eggs are, and drinks them right on the spot. He abducts the chicks: at his smithy he inserts into the slot, cuts and eats. He can also take them to his children. And from a good orderly the woodpecker turns into a bird of prey.
When the trees begin to wake up, juice begins to appear inside them, the birds perforate the bark (especially prefer birch) and drink it. Also, woodpeckers at this time find a lot of invertebrate insects. That is, the variety of food after winter increases. Again they begin to make funnels in the trees - thus expanding the passages along which insects move. Then they stick their long, rough and sticky tongue there and produce edible creatures. At these moments, the woodpecker comes across not only larvae, but also large insects, so the birds quickly eat up. When the first buds appear on the trees, the woodpeckers immediately eat them. However, birds need to eat a lot of kidneys to satisfy their hunger. Some plants begin to bloom in early spring. The woodpecker quickly detects and regales its seeds. In the forests in the spring, birds find nuts that have been preserved under the leaves since last year.
In order to find food for themselves in the spring, they have to not only climb trees, but also go down to the ground, where you can find a lot of ants, worms.
Conclusion
Now you know who such a woodpecker is. The photos presented in the article will help you become more familiar with the appearance of this bird. We also figured out what she eats and where she lives. We hope that now it is clear to you what the woodpecker eats in nature.