Northern Flicker Woodpecker at White Rock Lake

Saturday, March 17, 2012

As you walk around the wooden areas of White Rock Lake, you may hear a sound that resembles a short drum roll – the “drumming” of woodpeckers. This time of year, from late Spring to early Summer, the male woodpeckers “drum” to attract a mate.

Northern Flicker woodpecker on the lawn at Sunset Bay March 17, 2012

Of course, woodpeckers peck away at the bark of trees for other reasons as well, such as to make a nest and also to find food.

The image above is of a Northern Flicker woodpecker and is a beautiful example of the black bib that these woodpeckers have on their chest.

Have you ever listened carefully to the woodpeckers drumming? They strike the bark of a tree some eight times per second, about 500 times per minute, and with such great force that if a human bashed their head that hard just once, they would probably die.

Northern Flicker's eat mainly ants and beetles, digging
for them with their strong beaks. 

The reason woodpeckers don’t end up with severe head trauma when they drum is all in the design of their beak. It is designed somewhat like a shock absorber in a motor car and is independent of the skull. The skull is thus protected from harm when the bird decides to start pecking furiously, as woodpeckers are supposed to do.

You would not expect to find a woodpecker on the ground, but Northern Flicker's eat mainly ants and beetles, digging for them with their strong beaks. And can you believe that with all that drumming and digging, woodpeckers never have to sharpen their beaks?

If ever you wanted evidence of divine design, go find yourself a woodpecker.

****

Please LIKE us on Facebook