Woodpeckers of the World: Literature: The Guadeloupe Woodpecker

Friday, 19 November 2010

Literature: The Guadeloupe Woodpecker

This excellent monograph is one of the very few books published on a single picid species. It was researched and written by Pascal Villard and published in 1999 by the Societe d'Etudes Ornithologiques de France (S.E.O.F.) but nevertheless is in English. The book is particularly strong on biology and ecology. Besides a detailed "all-you-need-to-know" text on Melanerpes herminieri, there are also many superb colour photos, drawings, maps and graphs. There is also a section on other island dwelling Melanerpes species.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Background

Woodpeckers, the Picidae, are Piciformes, an order that includes some of the oldest avian lineages. The Piciformes probably originated about 60 million years ago in the Tertiary period and became distinct from their closest relatives some 50 million years ago. Depending upon which taxonomy is followed, and the fact that the status of some species is unclear, around 240-260 woodpecker species probably exist globally. The Picidae includes three subfamilies: Jynginae (wrynecks), Picumninae (piculets) and the Picinae, the “true woodpeckers”. In terms of size, behaviour, distribution and the habitats they use, the Picinae are a fairly diverse group of birds with six distinct tribes. They are widespread and found from sea-level to high-altitudes but absent from the Arctic, Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar and some other islands. Worldwide woodpeckers are usually, but not exclusively, associated with trees.