Woodpeckers and Relatives: Piciformes

Woodpeckers and their relatives eat a variety of foods and therefore, have a big difference in bill structure. Woodpeckers, jacamars, honeyguides, and puffbirds eat mostly insects and their larvae (LAR-vee; active immature insects), but some woodpeckers also eat fruit and nuts. Honeyguides also eat beeswax from beehives. Toucans and barbets eat mainly fruits, but do feed insects and other similar foods to young. Jacamars and puffbirds locate prey while in the air, eating mostly butterflies (for jacamars) and flying beetles (for puffbirds). Woodpeckers and their relatives also catch their prey with different techniques: taking them from leaves, branches, and tree trunks; probing into bark crevices and removing bark; drilling holes to insert tongues; carving off large pieces of bark; pecking funnel-shaped holes into ants' nests; or catching prey in flight. Their sturdy, stout beaks allow them to find prey in wood and other similar materials.