Summary

Learn about the amazing birds in the family Picidae—the woodpeckers. These charismatic birds have a suite of adaptations that make them excellent at the job of excavating wood. 

In this episode, we first summarize the key features of woodpeckers.

Then we’ll look at the evolution and modern-day diversity of the family.

We discuss many of the special adaptations of woodpeckers, which they use as they go about their day, foraging.

How woodpeckers breed and communicate and a bit about their conservation status round out the episode.

Links to Some Things Mentioned in this Episode

• Dean Hale Woodpecker Festival in Sisters, Oregon (USA)
  

Research Citations

• The Evolution of Terrestrial Woodpeckers
• The systematic position of Hemicircus and the stepwise evolution of adaptations for drilling, tapping and climbing up in true woodpeckers (Picinae, Picidae) 
• Tapping the woodpecker tree for evolutionary insight 
• Gone with the forest: Assessing global woodpecker conservation from land use patterns

Photos of some birds mentioned

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍