woodpecker

woodpecker

The woodpecker, also called ipecu, carpenter and itches-stick, is a bird of Piciformes order, Picidae family of small to medium size, with colorful feathers and, in most males with a red crest. His paws have two toes facing forward and two toes facing backward, which helps him to cling to tree trunks. They are very numerous in Brazil. They live in forests where they make their nests by opening a hole in the trunks of trees. They feed mainly on insect larvae, (although some species like the woodpecker yellow belly eat sap) that are inside the tree trunks, extending the cavity where the larvae with their powerful beak and introducing his long tongue and dampened by the salivary glands. The nests are dug in trunks of the highest possible trees for protection from predators. The eggs of 4 to 5 are hatched by the female and the male also for 20 days.

The woodpecker is a small bird, the Picidae family, of which there are around 179 species around the world.

Distributed throughout Brazil, there are 42 species of various colors, sizes and emit different sounds. These sounds are actually cries because the woodpecker does not sing.

The main feature of the woodpecker is its beak very hard, long, straight and sharp, a real hammer, which makes possible their food. It feeds mainly larvae living and destroy the interior of trees and insects found in the bark of the trunk, that is, the woodpecker has a fundamental role in controlling insects and larvae that could infest other trees. Some species also feed on fruits, ants and bee larvae, termites and wasps, which gets destroying their nests.

Biologists and ornithologists believe that the woodpecker hammering know where, where are larvae or insects by their great hearing ability, ie it is able to hear, according to these professionals, the noise of their potential victims.

To capture their prey within the tree, the woodpecker "hammering" the trunk with its beak, opening small holes and exploring with its long cylindrical tongue, sticky, and the tapered flexible tip. Your language can become five times larger than its beak. Reach to 100 beats per minute. Therefore, the woodpeckers neck muscle is very strong. To protect them from all this chatter, his skull has a greater thickness than the other birds. To stay upright, the woodpecker has very strong legs.

This bird is solitary, and are only gregarious in the breeding season when the male attracts the female giving strong blows on the trunks. The couple formed builds the nest, preferably in tall trees (to protect themselves from predators) and dead (because it is easier to make the hole for the nest). Very clever, the woodpecker digging the hole for the bottom nest up, forming an ascending corridor to protect the nest from rain and wind.

Each litter averages three small white eggs. Male and female hatch the eggs interchangeably, and the male helps the female with feeding the puppies after the birth of the same.

The cubs are blind and naked at birth, and even before enxergaram already play to beat the nozzle. Usually they leave the nest after five weeks.