Woodpeckers of the World: Habitats: Bamboo

Saturday, 1 October 2011

Habitats: Bamboo - Bambuseae

There are around 1450 species of bamboo (an evergreen member of the grass family) around the world. Many occur in tropical regions, mainly in SE Asia but also the Americas and Africa, and some in temperate regions. As a habitat for picids, bamboo may not immediately spring to mind, however many piculets and some true woodpeckers forage and nest in bamboo. Others, such as the appropriately named Bamboo Woodpecker Gecinulus viridis of south-east Asia, specialise in this habitat. For many species bamboo is also a favoured substrate upon which to drum as it resonates very well, especially when mature or dead. Photo taken in northern Malaysia, Gerard Gorman.

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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.