You won’t be singing any familiar, cartoon-themed songs when a woodpecker pecking away outside your bedroom window wakes you up at five in the morning. Though not much of a health risk and not as destructive as other aviary pests, the woodpecker’s incessant pecking can be enough to drive some people crazy.

Habitat

Woodpeckers tend to stick to forested areas and are not nearly as common in urban environments as starlings and pigeons. However, they are found in some urban areas, especially those with numerous trees and other materials they can procure food from, such as grassy lawns.

Breeding

Each year, woodpeckers lay between two to three sets of eggs, consisting of three to six eggs apiece, hatching in 11 to 14 days. Birds breed in the spring and both sexes tend to their young.

Food and Feeding

A woodpecker’s diet generally consists of insects on trees and the ground, wood-boring insects, berries, tree sap, and assorted vegetable matter.

Morphology and Lifestyle

Length: 17 – 40 centimeters
Weight: 7 – 500 grams depending on species
Calls: Assorted pecking patterns.
Lifespan: 4 – 11 years

Did You Know?

FACT: There are over 200 species of woodpecker.