Photo by Scott Norris
A pair of red-bellied woodpeckers have a nest in one of the palm trees on the southwest corner of the Ocean’s Reach pool. Scott captured this charming photo of one playing “peek-a-boo” with our guests.
Interested in some woodpecker trivia?
- There are more than 180 species of woodpeckers worldwide.
- Most woodpeckers have zygodactyl feet, which means they have two toes facing the front and two toes facing the back to help them strongly grip trees and poles vertically.
- The red-bellied woodpecker often creates “caches” of food by drumming rows upon rows of small holes and wedging a single nut or seed into each one.
- Woodpeckers engage in drumming to attract mates, establish territories and other communicate. They rat-a-tat-tat on resonant objects such as hollow trees, stumps and logs, utility poles, chimneys, rain gutters and trash cans, as well as any object that may echo loudly.
- Between feeding, excavating nest cavities and drumming, woodpeckers can peck up to 20 times per second, or a total of 8,000-12,000 pecks per day! (Woodpeckers don’t get headaches from pecking, however. They have reinforced skulls structured to spread the impact force, and their brains are tightly cushioned for added protection.)