Exploring Nature: Texas Woodpeckers

Texas is blessed with a plenitude of woodpeckers, with some 14 different species in our fair state. There are some 200 species in the world.

In our area, perhaps the most common type is the golden-fronted woodpecker, so named because of a small yellow patch just above the bill, the so-called “golden front.”

I have a suet block hanging on my back deck and have seen both golden-fronted and downy woodpeckers feeding on it.

The downy is the smallest of our woodpeckers, being only seven inches long, compared to the golden-fronted at ten inches long. The downy has a distinctive white back, white-spotted wings and black stripes on the face.

The golden-fronted species is found mostly in Texas and a small part of southern Oklahoma. It also is found south all the way down to Nicaragua.

Sometimes called “jackhammers of the forest,” woodpeckers have strong chisel bills that enable them to dig for insects in tree trunks and to peck nest holes in solid wood. The bird’s skull is thick and strong enough to withstand the vigorous pounding.

The woodpecker’s long tongue is unique among birds and can be thrust out several inches past the tip of its beak. With backward-pointing barbs, this specialized tongue can spear insects in their burrows and pull them out to be eaten.

Woodpeckers have short legs and strong claws for clinging to tree trunks, and their stiff tail feathers serve as props while climbing.

Among the other species found in Texas are acorn, red-bellied, ladder-backed, downy, hairy, red-cockaded and pileated.

Probably the most famous species of woodpecker is one that is no longer with us. The ivory-billed woodpecker was a giant specimen over 19-inches long and it lived in old-growth forests in the southeast United States.

When the bird’s numbers dwindled to a precious few, hunters shot the few remaining birds to provide to museums for their collections. The old-growth forests were also decimated by loggers.

The last ivory-billed woodpecker sighting was in Arkansas some fifty years ago, and it is now presumed to be extinct. If you spot one, please let me know.