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Listening for Lunch: How Woodpeckers Find Food (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 weeks ago by to c/animals@lemmy.world
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From David Lytwynec

Today I learned that Pileated Woodpeckers, while hunting for insects, will place an ear next to the surface of a tree, listening for insects moving under the bark.

It's not a great picture, but it does document what I observed.

Ellicott City, 10/17/2026.

I didn't know this either. I thought they just looked for likely spots and did some trial and error.

Here is a good article about the ways they listen and locate their prey if you'd like some more details.

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[–] 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

Pileated woodpecker!!! Actually yesterday for the first time, a pair hung out on the trees in our backyard, where I got a great look at them doing exactly this!

The downy and hairy woodpeckers do this too, albeit they'll fly down to our wooden back deck and listen for bugs there like goobers. Woodpeckers are awesome.

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 3 weeks ago

    Ooo those guys are really cool too! They're so huge!

    I saw my first one this year at the clinic, and then a few weeks ago I saw two on my way home from work.

    They can really make that bark fly!

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