Piciformes: Elisabeth
Examples of order:
- Wood Peckers, Sapsuckers, Flickers, Toucans, Honeyguides
Habitat:
- Except for Australia and Antarctica, Piciformes can be found on every continent on Earth, in forests, grassland, parks and orchards.Most Piciformes live in trees because they are physically adapted to easily live in trees.
What they eat:
- Most Piciformes are insectivorous, which means they eat insects, but fruit, nuts and other items are included in their diet. Exceptionally, honeyguides will eat beeswax.
Method of eating:
- Piciformes have long tongues that can reach into cavities in trees to grab insects.
- A few of these species use their strong bills to drill holes in trees and afterwards, use their tongues to capture the insects out of theses holes.
Physical characteristics:
- They have strong, heavy bills. Bills are similar to beaks.
- All Piciformes are good at climbing, although the honeyguides are the only good flyers.
- The sizes of these species range in length from about 3 inches to about 2 feet and weight from about 1/3 of an ounce to about 20 ounces.
- Almost all Piciformes have special feet called zygodactylous feet. This indicates that two of the toes on each foot point forward and the two other toes point backward. This structure makes it easy for these birds to climb up and down tree trunks and to move on tree branches.
- They range in size from 4-24 inches and come in a variety of colors and patterns.
Behaviour:
- Some species are rather anti-social in their habits and show aggression towards other woodpeckers (including those of their own species). Other woodpecker species are more social and live in groups that breed communally. Some woodpeckers gather with other species of birds in mixed flocks.
- Wood Peckers, Sapsuckers, Flickers, Toucans, Honeyguides
Habitat:
- Except for Australia and Antarctica, Piciformes can be found on every continent on Earth, in forests, grassland, parks and orchards.Most Piciformes live in trees because they are physically adapted to easily live in trees.
What they eat:
- Most Piciformes are insectivorous, which means they eat insects, but fruit, nuts and other items are included in their diet. Exceptionally, honeyguides will eat beeswax.
Method of eating:
- Piciformes have long tongues that can reach into cavities in trees to grab insects.
- A few of these species use their strong bills to drill holes in trees and afterwards, use their tongues to capture the insects out of theses holes.
Physical characteristics:
- They have strong, heavy bills. Bills are similar to beaks.
- All Piciformes are good at climbing, although the honeyguides are the only good flyers.
- The sizes of these species range in length from about 3 inches to about 2 feet and weight from about 1/3 of an ounce to about 20 ounces.
- Almost all Piciformes have special feet called zygodactylous feet. This indicates that two of the toes on each foot point forward and the two other toes point backward. This structure makes it easy for these birds to climb up and down tree trunks and to move on tree branches.
- They range in size from 4-24 inches and come in a variety of colors and patterns.
Behaviour:
- Some species are rather anti-social in their habits and show aggression towards other woodpeckers (including those of their own species). Other woodpecker species are more social and live in groups that breed communally. Some woodpeckers gather with other species of birds in mixed flocks.