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b'Thanks to Joel and Mary for suggesting some really interesting woodpeckers this week!\\n\\nFurther watching:\\n\\nRare woodpecker thought extinct spotted in Ohio\\n\\nThe green woodpecker really likes to eat ants [picture by Remyymer - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65008314]:\\n\\n\\n\\nThe white-headed woodpecker looks like its face got splashed with paint:\\n\\n\\n\\nThe red-headed woodpecker has the prettiest shade of red [picture by colleen - originally posted to Flickr as Red Headed Woodpecker, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6639146]:\\n\\n\\n\\nThe acorn woodpecker looks like it got its face splashed with white paint and then dipped its beak in black paint [picture by Charles J. Sharp - Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography.co.uk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=136903489]:\\n\\n\\n\\nShow transcript:\\n\\nWelcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I\\u2019m your host, Kate Shaw.\\n\\nThis week we\\u2019re going to talk about a type of bird that several people have suggested, the woodpecker! Thanks to Joel and Mary for their suggestions, and I could swear someone else suggested woodpeckers a while back. If that was you, thank you and I\\u2019m sorry I didn\\u2019t write it down!\\n\\nIt\\u2019s funny that we haven\\u2019t talked about woodpeckers very often, because they are definitely strange animals. How many animals use their head to hammer holes in wood? The woodpecker has a strong, heavy bill that it uses to drill holes in trees to find hidden insects and other invertebrates. A lot of insects dig little burrows in wood, and the woodpecker hammers away at the wood until it exposes the burrow. Then it has to get the insect or grub out of the burrow without it getting away, so it has a long, sticky tongue with barbs at the end. It can stick its tongue into the burrow and use it to drag the insect out and eat it.\\n\\nWhen I say woodpeckers have long tongues, I mean their tongues are way longer than you think. The woodpecker\\u2019s skull contains a special cavity that wraps all the way around the brain and back down to the right nostril, and this cavity is where the main part of the tongue is when the woodpecker isn\\u2019t actually using it. It also helps cushion the brain and keep it from moving too much while the woodpecker is pecking. The skull itself is lined with spongy bone to soften impacts too.\\n\\nThe woodpecker also has a lot of other adaptations to using its entire head like a hammer. To protect its eyes from debris and pressure damage, it has a thick membrane that it uses to cover the eye, like built-in safety goggles. It has tiny, tough feathers that protect the nostrils from debris, and its nostrils are usually very small and thin too. Even its skin is thicker than that of most birds.\\n\\nWoodpeckers have weird feet too. Almost all species have four toes, two that point forward, two that point backward. This arrangement is called zygodactyly, and it\\u2019s a trait also found in parrots and some other birds, and in chameleons. It allows the woodpecker to climb trees and branches securely and easily. The woodpecker also has a relatively short tail with stiff feathers that it uses to prop itself up against a tree trunk while hammering.\\n\\nThe woodpecker doesn\\u2019t just use its hammering ability to find food. It also hammers to communicate with other woodpeckers, the same way other birds use song. Each species has its own pattern of drumming, and the sound can attract a mate or tell rivals that this territory is already taken. When it\\u2019s communicating, the woodpecker will drum on different surfaces than when it\\u2019s just looking for food. This might be a hollow tree that amplifies the sound, or even an artificial surface. The first time I observed this as a birdwatcher was when I noticed a red-breasted woodpecker hammering repeatedly on a metal light post.\\n\\nWoodpeckers do make ordinary sounds, though. Mary suggested the European green woodpecker and pointed out that its old name is yaff...'