Julie DiMasi, age 13, of West Warwick, Rhode Island, for her question:
Why do woodpeckers peck?
When you watch a woodpecker pecking, you wonder whether the pretty little bird has lost his mind. He jab jab jabs his beak into a tree trunk, using his feathery head like a hammer. Surely, he must expect to suffer through the world's worst headache. Actually there is no need to worry. The woodpecker has a perfectly sensible reason for pecking a tree trunk and, so far as we know, he never gets a headache.
The woodpecker is designed for life in the trees. The 200 or so cousins in his family include the flickers and sapsuckers and a few members are at home in wooded regions almost everywhere in the world. One of our North American favorites is the little downy woodpecker, dressed in speckled black and white with a small red spot on his head.
Another of our favorites is the larger red headed woodpecker, who nests throughout the United States and Canada, with the exception of the far north and western mountains. He wears a bold outfit of black and white, set off by a vivid red cap that completely covers his head and neck. Though a sizeable bird of perhaps ten inches long, we rarely see him. But if he happens to dwell in your favorite woods, you surely will hear him.
When he flies from tree to tree, he goes by in a jerky flash ¬with two or three fast wing beats and a dipping glide. Chances are, he lands with his tummy flat against the trunk. His body is designed to make this odd position quite comfortable. Each foot has two sharp claws that point forward and two more that point to the rear. You can see how these four prongs can get a goad grip on the side of a trunk. When he's securely anchored, his short stiff tail feathers spread flat like a fan and help to keep him balanced.
The bright eyed woodpecker now is all set to start work. He uses his sharp, super strong bill to hammer out a loud tattoo tap tap tap on the tree trunk. In slow motion, you would see that he whacks first from one side, then from the other side, as a woodsman does as he chops wood. He can whack with all his might because the extra strong bones in his skull are designed to withstand the pounding shocks.
The woodpecker is drilling and digging for his favorite food, which happens to be the grubs, bugs and assorted insects that make their homes in and under the bark. When a victim is exposed, the woodpecker shoots out his extra long tongue and scoops it into his mouth.
When nesting time comes around, the woodpecker parents team together and use their digging talents to scoop a deep hole in a tree trunk. The small entrance leads to a cavity perhaps a foot deep. Two to eight white eggs are laid in the unlined nest at the bottom of the hollow. For a couple of weeks, the male and female take turns at sitting on the eggs. When the chicks hatch, both parents toil to feed and educate them in all the skills that a successful woodpecker should know.