There are about 200 species of woodpeckers. These birds have a very wide range of habitats, but mostly they live in a wooded area. The sizes of different types of woodpeckers range from 15 to 53 cm.
Because of the huge energy costs, the woodpecker is constantly hungry. For example, a black woodpecker (native to North America) in one sitting can eat 900 larvae of beetles or 1000 ants; A green woodpecker eats up to 2,000 ants a day.
This truly “wolfish appetite” has its goal: woodpeckers play an important role in the control of insects, help limit the spread of diseases of trees, destroying disease vectors. Thus, a bird of a woodpecker helps to save forests.
The woodpecker is capable of hitting the tree at a speed of 20-25 times per second (almost twice the speed of the machine gun) 8000-12000 times a day!
When this bird strikes the tree, it uses incredible power. If the same force is applied to the skull of any other bird, her brain would quickly turn into a mess. Moreover, if a man hit his head against a tree with the same force, he, if he survived after such a concussion, would get a very serious brain injury.
When a woodpecker drumming a tree at a speed of up to 22 times per second, his head experiences overloads reaching 1000 g (a person would have been in a “knockout” already at 80-100 g).
During the “drilling work” the woodpecker’s head moves at a speed more than twice the speed of the bullet during the shot.
When a woodpecker knocks on a tree at a speed of up to 20 times per second, his eyelids are closed each time a moment before the moment when his beak approaches its goal. This is a kind of mechanism to protect the eyes from splinters. Closed eyelids also hold your eyes and prevent them from flying out.
