Gold woodpeckers

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gold woodpeckers
A pair of golden woodpeckers (Colaptes auratus)

A pair of golden woodpeckers ( Colaptes auratus )

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Woodpecker birds (Piciformes)
Family : Woodpeckers (Picidae)
Subfamily : Real woodpeckers (Picinae)
Genre : Gold woodpeckers
Scientific name
Colaptes
Swainson in Vigors , 1825

The golden or crooked- billed woodpeckers ( Colaptes ), also popularly called Flicker in North America , form a species of birds from the subfamily Real Woodpeckers within the woodpeckers (Picidae). With 11 species and several subspecies, they inhabit the entire American continent.

description

The plumage of these woodpeckers is characterized by a light brown basic color with a wavy pattern. The tail feathers as well as the wings shine from golden yellow to copper colored to dull red.

Way of life

They fly through their territory in a bow flight and are very lively and extremely loud. They are mainly found near the ground where they look for ants and other insects . Their diet consists (according to Arthur Cleveland Bent , 1939) of 60% animal and 40% vegetable components. The golden woodpeckers from the northern parts of the United States in particular are migratory birds. The migration begins in late September and ends in February to early April. During this move they form loose bandages and call out frequently.

Green-banded woodpecker , ( Colaptes melanochloros )

Equally characteristic is their swivel dance, which not only serves as a courtship and advertising dance, but also as a gesture to defend the territory. In this dance, the head is swung wildly and the tail spread diagonally until it protrudes 45 ° to the side of the body and the shiny yellow underside is on display.

habitat

They prefer open to semi-open landscapes.

Reproduction

Nesting holes are usually created in rotten tree trunks, masts or, as in the case of the desert gold woodpecker, in giant cacti . Another species, the Andean woodpecker , nests in burrows on steep slopes. Nesting holes are found at heights of 0.5 m to 27 m and are between 17 and 46 cm deep. The entry and exit openings have a diameter of 5 to 11 cm. On average, they lay between 6 and 8 shiny white eggs, from which the young hatch after 9 to 12 days, which then, after another 10 days, open their eyes. The nesting season ends after 25 to 28 days and the young fly out, but their parents will take care of them for some time.

Vocalizations

At a great distance, both genders use a long series of calls made of kick-kick-kick sounds, which is sometimes perceived as wicka-wicka-wicka . The alarm call sounds like Kjioub and the intimate sounds between couples are a very quiet wät-wät , uiihk-uiihk or wop-wop .

species

In Bermuda colaptes are fossil known. In 1981, the remains of lowland woodpeckers of the genus Colaptes were discovered in the Admirals Cave in Hamilton Parish , most of which are dated to the Young Pleistocene . A right tarsometatarsus of a young bird comes from the Holocene . Presumably, however, the species survived until the early colonization of Bermuda, as a 1623 travel report by Captain John Smith suggests observations of woodpeckers in Bermuda, which may refer to both sap-lickers ( Sphyrapicus ) and golden woodpeckers . In 2013, Storrs L. Olson wrote the first scientific description and named the new species Colaptes oceanicus .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted in: Lefroy, JH 1981. Memorials of the discovery and early settlement of the Bermudas or Somers Islands 1515–1685 . Second reprinting, volume 1. Bermuda Historical Society, Hamilton, 772 pp.
  2. ↑ Storrs L. Olson (2013). Fossil woodpeckers from Bermuda with the description of a new species of Colaptes (Aves: Picidae) . Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 126 (1): 17-24.

literature

  • Dieter Blume : Woodpeckers from foreign countries. Neue Brehm-Bücherei No. 434, A. Ziemsen-Verlag, Wittenberg 1971, pp. 51-63.
  • Bernhard Grzimek : Grzimeks animal life. Volume 9 birds. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH & Co. KG Munich (1993), pp. 93-94, ISBN 3-423-05970-2

Web links

Commons : Colaptes  - collection of images, videos and audio files