Distribution and ecology
Piciform birds are varied in their habits, although certain facets of behaviour relating to hole nesting, such as the snakelike hissing of young birds in the nest, are shared with some other hole-nesting birds. Jacamars and puffbirds, the fly-catching members of the order, are stolid, unsuspicious birds, allowing close approach by humans. Woodpeckers, toucans, and barbets are more wary, but the smaller species of piculets and woodpeckers sometimes can be approached closely.
Jacamars and puffbirds inhabit various portions of tropical American forests. Jacamars sit quietly on perches in openings and edges, flying infrequently but often flicking their tails. Large insects, such as butterflies, are captured, taken to a perch, and usually beaten against it. The wings of the insects are removed if the prey are to be fed to the young.
Puffbirds are often found in farm areas, where they may be seen along the road looking something like dull-coloured forest kingfishers. They have a rapid, darting flight, and some species, such as the swallow-winged puffbird (Chelidoptera tenebrosa), spend much time making sorties after insects high in the trees. Others forage low in bushes, obtaining prey on the ground as well as in undergrowth. Tail-jerking movements are observed in some puffbirds (such as the two-banded puffbird, Hypnelus bicinctus), as in jacamars.
The barbets are weak-flying, essentially resident birds inhabiting woodland and savannas, occasionally the fringes of deserts. They feed on insects, fruit, and even flowers and buds. The tiny African tinkerbirds (Pogoniulus), so named for their repetitive vocalizations, feed mainly or entirely on insects, foraging rapidly over bark and occasionally tapping with the beak, very much like piculets of the woodpecker family. Some barbets have serrated, or “toothed,” edges of the bill, in the manner of toucans; these are apparently used for tearing open fruit.
Honey guides are nonmigratory birds, dwelling in pairs or alone in forests and savanna. They feed on insects, fruit, and beeswax. Only a few honey guides of the genus Indicator actually are known to “guide” certain mammals, including man, to bees’ nests. Most honey guides are able to enter bees’ nests without assistance, there to eat larvae and, primarily, wax, which is digested with the help of special bacteria within the birds’ digestive tracts. Honey guides use a peculiar chattering to attract the attention of an animal likely to follow. The greater honey guide (I. indicator) spreads its tail conspicuously and uses a peculiar undulating flight in attracting attention. It perches and calls again, then moves further on in another short flight as the interested animal draws near. Upon reaching the bees’ nest, the honey guide waits quietly in the vicinity until the animal has taken the honey and moved off. It then flies to the devastated nest and feeds on scattered pieces of wax and exposed larvae.
Toucans are strictly New World tropical forest birds, although they may forage about farms. One group, the hill toucans of the genus Andigena, occurs in the Andes up into temperate forests. No toucans are geographically migratory, but some species make local movements up and down mountain slopes. Toucans eat much fruit, perhaps aided by their serrated beaks. Smaller pieces or small fruits are first held in the tip of the bill and then thrown back into the mouth. They also eat larger insects, birds’ eggs, and even young birds. The colour patterns of the bill are distinct in each species and probably serve a behavioral function. Toucans have a peculiar habit of cocking the tail forward over the head, particularly while sleeping in a cavity; D’Arnaud’s barbet (Trachyphonus darnaudii) also does this during displays.
The family Picidae comprises three distinct subfamilies. One, the Jynginae, contains two closely related species of wrynecks (Jynx), found in Eurasia and central Africa. Wrynecks, which have soft, unspecialized tails, forage for ants in trees and on the ground.
The piculets (Picumninae) constitute a second subfamily of soft-tailed, woodpecker-like birds. Most species live in forests and dry woodlands of the New World tropics. The major genus Picumnus is peculiarly distributed in having all but one species in the New World and one isolated species (P. innominatus, the speckled piculet) in southern Asia, a pattern of distribution matched by the woodpecker genus Celeus. All the piculets are tiny, the largest—the peculiar Haitian piculet (Nesoctites micromegas)—being only sparrow-sized. They feed in a woodpecker-like manner, tapping and probing usually on small branchlets and vines, and they allow close approach, continuing to forage under the eyes of an observer. Their food is composed mainly or entirely of insects.
The true woodpeckers (Picinae), with their stiffened tails, usually perch lengthwise on tree branches or trunks. Among the relatively few species that go to the ground, all hop, except for two species of flickers (campo flicker, Colaptes campestris, and Andean flicker, C. rupicola) that walk. Foraging is by diverse modes. True excavating, which penetrates the substrate of the bark, is not as common as one would expect on viewing the woodpecker bill. Most woodpeckers forage mainly by gleaning items from the surface of a tree, by probing into cracks, and by occasional to frequent tapping, sufficient to break barely through the surface. Only the heavy-billed, so-called ivorybills (genus Campephilus) of the New World, some of their relatives, other similarly specialized Asian groups, and a few of the smaller woodpeckers (genus Picoides; some species of Dendrocopos) regularly chisel deep into trees. The food of woodpeckers is varied, mainly consisting of insects, but some species (especially of the genus Melanerpes) frequently eat fruits and berries. Ants are a favourite food, especially in tropical regions; fully half of the numerous tropical species feed largely or entirely on ants. Three woodpeckers (ground woodpecker, Geocolaptes olivaceus of Africa, the campo flicker, and the Andean flicker) are ground dwellers, feeding mostly on ants, while seven or eight other species frequently forage on the ground. The flight of woodpeckers is strong, with definite up-down undulations.
Most woodpeckers are permanent residents, the few exceptions including the North American yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) and flicker, which are highly migratory.