Woodpecker birds
| Woodpecker birds | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Male Great Spotted Woodpecker ( Dendrocopos major ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Piciformes | ||||||||||||
| Meyer & Wolf , 1810 |
The woodpecker birds (Piciformes), Baamhackl in Bavarian, are an order of birds . The order is divided into two sub-orders, the glossy bird-like (Galbuloidea), of which there are about 55 species, and the woodpecker-like (Picoidea) with 355 species.
features
Woodpecker birds are small, stocky birds. They have a short neck and a rounded head. The beaks of species vary widely, from the banana-shaped beak of toucans for hooked beak of Puffbirds . The wings are short and wide, but in some species they are also long and pointed. The tail of the woodpecker bird is spatula or fan-shaped. Your feet are relatively short, the toes are arranged in pairs, with the first and fourth pointing backwards and the second and third pointing forward. The birds have a bare eye ring.
Way of life
Woodpeckers often sit lazily on branches and sun themselves. Most of them feed on insects , toucans eat fruit, honey indicators capture the larvae and images of bees and also feed on their honey. The animals are cave breeders, they beat them with their beaks (sometimes with their feet) into trees, embankments and into the nests of tree-dwelling termites . They lay two to four white eggs. Their young hatch with down plumage.
Habitat and Distribution
While the glossy birds are restricted to tropical America , the woodpeckers live worldwide with the exception of Antarctica , Madagascar , Australia and the islands of the tropical Pacific . They inhabit all types of forests and also tree savannahs. They are absent in very dry areas.
Systematics
Order : Woodpecker birds (Piciformes)
- Submission: jacamar-like (Galbuloidea)
- Family: Lazy birds (Bucconidae)
- Family: glossy birds (Galbulidae)
- Submission: woodpecker-like (Picoidea)
- Family: Asian bearded birds (Megalaimidae)
- Family: African bearded birds (Lybiidae)
- Family: American bearded birds (Capitonidae)
- Family: Toucan bearded birds (Semnornithidae)
- Family: Toucans (Ramphastidae)
- Family: Honiganzeiger (Indicatoridae)
- Family: Woodpeckers (Picidae)
- Subfamily: reversible necks (Jynginae)
- Subfamily: Real woodpeckers or support-tailed woodpeckers (Picinae)
- Subfamily: dwarf woodpeckers or soft-tailed woodpeckers (Picumninae)
literature
- Johansson, Ulf S. & Ericson, Per GP: Molecular support for a sister group relationship between Pici and Galbulae (Piciformes sensu Wetmore 1960). In: Journal of Avian Biology. 34. 2003, pp. 185-197. PDF .
- Karel Stastny: Birds Handbook and Guide to the Birds of Europe. Bechtermünz Verlag in Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1997
- Theo Jahn: Brehm's new animal encyclopedia. Verlag Herder KG, Freiburg im Breisgau Special edition for Prisma Verlag GmbH, Gütersloh 1982, ISBN 3-570-08606-2
Web links
- Harshman, John. 2008. Piciformes. Woodpeckers and relatives. Version 27 June 2008 (under construction). in The Tree of Life Web Project
- IOC World Bird List: Woodpeckers & allies ( Memento of May 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive )