The forest is home to many sights, not to mention sounds. The loud piercing call of the crested serpent eagle, the alarm cry of the monkeys as they spot the striped predator prowling nearby, the shrill cry of the peacock some distance away... But what’s that rat-a-tat-tat-tat sound growing louder by the minute? That’s just one of the forest inhabitants hard at work, boring into a tree. Say hello to the nature’s carpenter, the woodpecker.
Of the 200 species of woodpeckers and other related species in the world, 31 are in India, with at least three species found in the plains of south India. The lesser golden-backed woodpecker is the most commonly found woodpecker. The white-naped woodpecker, though rare, is found in the plains and requires dry scrub habitat with big trees. The mahratta woodpecker is another bird found in such habitats. Nine species of the woodpecker thrive in the Western Ghats.
I remember the time when my mother hollered from the backyard and asked me to take a look at a colourful bird that kept visiting our mango tree. To my surprise, it was a white-naped woodpecker (Chrysocolaptes Festivus), with it’s white nape and golden yellow wings that I had seen only twice before. The shy bird, moments after spotting me, gave a loud call and flew to another tree stump, climbed on it and after ensuring that it was safe from any threat, started to peck on the already cut/marked portion of the bark, peeping from behind the bark now and then. I brought out my camera and gave my mom a head start before following her cautiously. The trick worked as the bird just watched for a few seconds and continued with its work. And I started mine and took many photos!
The noise aroused the curiosity of a squirrel, which came close to the woodpecker, but the woodpecker darted forward and one powerful blow from its beak sent the intruder scampering away, only for it to return and peep at the woodpecker from a respectable distance.
Next time too, I chanced upon a woodpecker making a rap-a-tap-tap noise on the bark of the mango tree with its chisel-like bill, making a mark from the top to the bottom and then again to the top right, as if drawing out a human heart. It took less than three minutes for the woodpecker to chip away a small portion of the bark, stretch its very long tongue, eat some insects/worms, give a call and fly away. After its exit, the squirrel came to inspect and sniffed and licked the place where the woodpecker had been busy at work.
On another occasion, at the beginning of summer, I saw a pair of white naped woodpeckers on a ficus tree, searching for food. I was very close to them, but when they spotted me, one of them gave a very loud cry and flew in quick bursts to a nearby tree. The partner hiding behind the tree trunk, followed.
It took me years to learn that the continuous firing sounds in the wilderness resembing a gun firing was actually the woodpeckers boring into hollow wood, looking for insects. The alarm calls too are a quick burst of sounds. During trips to my village, I see them on many of the ficus trees — Banyan or Ficus Bengalensis, Ficus Mysorensis, Ficus Racemosa, coconut, areca and acacia trees making their way from the bottom of the tree to the topmost branches, rendering them invisible for some time before flying away.
The woodpecker has a pointed bill. It knocks hard at a tree bark, eight to ten times a minute, a rate and force that can make a man unconscious. The rigid tail presses against the tree and supports it while climbing trees. Unlike other birds, two toes point forward and two straight back, which is useful to perch and cling to tree trunks. The male white-naped woodpecker has a red crown and females have a yellow crown. Woodpeckers nest in tree cavities and may take several weeks to make a hole. Once I saw a woodpecker’s nest on a tree that was just eight feet above the ground. One of the parent birds arrived with food and the fledgings peeped out of the nest and cried, while the other parent watched from a distance. Abandoned nests are used by other birds like the myna.
The woodpecker may get mistaken for the hoopoe as they are similar in appearance. The latter forages on the ground, but both birds nest in holes of tree trunks.
Quick Facts
Family: Picidae (Near perching birds)
Species: Chrysocolaptes festivus
Habitat: Open forests and woodlands
Size: Large species, 29 centimetre in length
Nests: In a tree hole, cavity
Eggs: Lays one or two white eggs
Countries: India Nepal and Sri Lanka
Food: Wood boring insects and worms in tree hollows
Flight: Small wave like undulations
Conservation status (IUCN): Least concern, though the dwindling tree population in open plains is a major concern for their nesting