How the Woodpecker Knows

How the Woodpecker Knows

How does he know where to dig his hole,
The woodpecker there on the elm tree hole?
How does he know what kind of a limb
To use for a drum, and to burrow in?
How does he find where the young grubs grow -
I'd like to know?

The woodpecker flew to a maple limb,
And drummed a tattoo that was fun for him,
"No breakfast here! It's too hard for that."
He said, as down on his tail he sat,
"Just listen to this: rrrr rat-rat-tat."

This is poem that seems to be quite popular and is there for ages, nobody knows who wrote it but fun to read, and yes it brings out the basic characteristic of woodpecker, have an ear for the furious rat-rat-rat by this spectacular looking busy bird. Woodpecker is one bird that is built for chiseling the tree. They have sharp tipped bill, special muscles that cushion the skull from the shock of constant hammering, extremely long sticky tongues with bristles that aid in grabbing and extracting insects deep within cervices of a tree, they also have tail that stiffens to support as it cling the tree to forage or probe beneath it. This usual posture of woodpecker is also helped by its strong broad, crooked claws and short feet that have four toes placed in pairs, two forward and two backward that help to grasp and walk the tree vertical defying gravity “…it was very wild, running on the trunks and limbs of trees with the agility peculiar to the family…” (Audubon 1837). Also a thickened nictating membrane protects eye and nostrils from flying debris as it digs. They are also known to communicate by drumming. The painting herein is of Pileated woodpecker by Audobun.

Woodpeckers are referred to as ‘core species’ because their presence is a fundamental requirement to the existence of a wide range of other species, cavity nesting birds are very much dependent on woodpecker holes (owls, hornbills, wrens, martins and so on).

Woodpeckers also help in controlling pests (like bugs, ants or termites) but in recent time copious use of pesticides has seriously imbalanced the ecosystem. The reason why organic farming is significant, such agro-ecological practices go a long way in sustainable development. So unlike reported in media (BBC may have their own reason) there is more to organic farming than taste or nutrients. There are about 200 hundreds species of woodpecker, forest clearing has also reduced many population and some face extinction. Ivory billed woodpecker is thought to be extinct.

Does this blogger have a problem with Hume’s pheasant?

In one of my blog I expressed displeasure with birds named after colonialists, but all were not same some of them were very much into birds and their contributions have been immense and any bird named after them is a matter of pride and cause to celebrate. I guess most of us have read about AO Hume, he was the founder of Indian National Congress- that played a very significant role in freedom movement as also in nation building of independent India. Incidentally the present union government is headed by INC under the president ship of Sonia Gandhi who was born in Italy (another woman of foreign origin who held the highest post in INC was venerable Annie Beasent, this blogger has visited Theosophical society in Chennai). What is not known about AO Hume is that he was an ardent ornithologist (some even gave him the title of father of ornithology in India, this blogger though would like that title for none but Salim Ali. Period).

Hume made many expeditions to collect birds both when he was on health leave and as and where his work took him. As the Commissioner of Inland Customs Hume was responsible for the control of 2,500 miles of coast from near Peshawar in the northwest to Cuttack on the Bay of Bengal. During his travels he made a number of notes on various bird species. His expedition to the Indus area was one of the largest. In 1873, he visited the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal, the Lakshadeep Islands in 1875, and in 1881 he made his last ornithological expedition to Manipur. Hume started the quarterly journal Stray Feathers - A journal of ornithology for India and dependencies in 1872. Twelve volumes were produced, the last of which was in 1888. He used the journal to publish descriptions of his new discoveries, such as Hume's Owl, Hume's Wheatear and Hume's Whitethroat. He wrote extensively on his own observations as well as writing critical reviews of all the ornithological works of the time. Hume built up a network of ornithologists reporting from various parts of India. Hume co-authored with C H T Marshall Game Birds of India, Burma and Ceylon (1879-1881).This three-volume work was made using contributions and notes from a network of 200 or more correspondents. Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds (1883) was another major work by Hume (above para taken from net).

Hume kept a detailed writing on the birds, this massive collection of manuscript was unfortunately sold by a servant as waste paper!!. What a tragedy, this blogger understands the pain to even loose a paragraph of writing, it is wrenching. Understandably Hume started to loose interest and donated all his remaining collections to British museum. There are many birds named after Hume and his wife. Cheers to that Hume’s pheasant is actually Mrs. Hume’s pheasant; this bird incidentally is the state bird of Manipur and Mizoram.

Other Britishers who actively contributed to ornithology in the subcontinent during 18^th to early 20^th century include Andrew Leith Adams, Horace Alexander, E C S Stuart Baker, Valentine Ball, Henry Edwin Barnes, R S P Bates, R C Beavan’s , F N Betts, W T Blanford, Edward Blyth, W E Brooks, W. S. Millard (it was this man who was the secretary at BHNS when young Salim Ali came with yellow throated Swallow, the photo is of him), E A Butler, Douglas Dewar, Edward Hamilton Aitken (popularly known as EHA, he was the founding member of Bombay Natural History Society ), Frank Finn, Thomas B Fletcher, James Franklin, N F Frome, H H Godwin-Austen, John Gould, Brian Hodgson, C M Inglis, Capt. Surgeon T C Jerdon (the most authoritative book The Birds of India), N B Kinnear, Walter Norman Koelz, Frank Ludlow, C H T Marshall, G F L Marshall, John McClelland, Richard Meinertzhagen, James A Murray, E W Oates, Arthur Edward Osmaston, Bertram Beresford Osmaston, Sir Arthur Purves Phayre, Wardlaw Ramsay, Dr Sidney Dillon Ripley, B E Smythies, J K Stanford, Ferdinand Stoliczka, Colonel W H Sykes, Charles Swinhoe, Robert Swinhoe, C B Ticehurst, Col. Robert C Tytler , Hugh Whistler.