Knock! knock! who's there?

AMEEN AHMED

It was just another pre-monsoon evening in the tropical jungles of the Nagarahole National Park. Panthers, deer, tuskers, and a glimpse of the tiger, all in a day's walk during the annual wildlife census. Sitting in the Kallahalla guesthouse, I looked at the teak forest. What prevented these trees from those wood boring termites and other insects, which satiate their hunger by eating into the very heart of trees?

Just then, a bird settled on the trunk of one of the trees. It was a woodpecker. It moved briskly up the tree in a circular fashion, hammering and plucking out tree boring insects as it did. I had my answer.

Of the many fictional idioms is this one, "Save a tree, eat a Woodpecker". This myth seems to stem from the fact that the usual business of woodpeckers is to make holes in trees for feeding and nesting purposes.

Woodpeckers are among nature's best biological pesticides. They save our forests by eating the woodborers and termites. But what makes the woodpeckers hunt so effortlessly? They have a large head and the neck though slender, is powerful. The bill is hard and designed like chisel to hack into the timber. The tongue of a woodpecker is among the most specialised in birds. It is long, cylindrical shaped, very protrusive and barbed. Added to this, it is sticky, and this helps it in catching its prey and pulling out larvae of beetle from their pupa. The legs are short. The toes are paired, two pointing forward and two backward, and are strong. The tail is rounded or wedge-shaped with the end feathers being pointed and stiffened. These tail features help a woodpecker balance the body and support it when climbing or clinging.

Although insects are its chief food, depending on the season, they also feed on fruits. Woodpeckers have a very strong and bounded flight.

Many species of woodpeckers have a common habit of joining birds of different species in hunting insects. They keep hammering against tree trunks, and this produces a loud rattling sound known as "drumming". Ornithologists say that this is not only a noise of excavation, but also to advertise their presence within a particular area. They consider this small area, usually a couple of square kilometres, as their territory and prevent other woodpeckers from coming in. It has also been found that pairs maintain vocal contact and use drumming in communication.

Many of the woodpeckers, particularly those that are entirely dependent on forests, are threatened species. The large-scale deforestation particularly in Western Ghats have put severe pressure on these birds. Also, since many of the woodpeckers nest in dead trees, it is important to understand the importance of dead timber. Dead trees are as important as the ones that are live. The consequences would be no woodpeckers, no trees and obviously no forests. Therefore, if you want to save forests, you need to save woodpeckers.

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