Woodpeckers drumming is it vocal? (1 Viewer)

[midlandsbirder]

Hi everyone, I have on a number of occasions, marveled on how the woodpecker (Great Spotted,) can make that drumming sound, I read a few articles the other day where theories (and sightings) were put forward that the drumming is made vocaly and not by hitting the hollow wood with the bill! listening to two yesterday, the the drumming sounded the same, one a little higher in pitch, the sound always seems the same though, and you would think that the varying hollow tree cavities would give different sounds?
observers, so I have read, say they have seen the Woodpeckeres head up or to one side while making the sound! Others report the sound is made in the throat whlie pecking at the same time? Some say they have found no marks on the tree.
Is it proven one way or the other? can anyone say for definite, I would love to know,
John

 

[David FG]

Well I can't actually prove it (just as I can't prove anything absolutely - but here we get into philosophy) but I think it is fairly well established that the noise is percussive. Otherwise hammering away at a tree (except to excavate a nest hole) would be remarkably pointless wouldn't it? It would also be one hell of a coincidence that woodpecker vocalization was so very much like hammering on a tree; to the extent that I (and anyone else) can do a fairly good imitation of it by hammering on a tree!

 

[luke]

where i work, we got a large flag pole which is slightly hollow on the top, our male GSW uses it as one of his drumming posts, it sound an awful lot different to when he's drumming a tree.

 

[shandyjack]

Hello Midlandsbirder

I've watched one banging away at a metal electricity pylon. I always assumed it was a territorial thing?

Shandyjack

 

[David FG]

where i work, we got a large flag pole which is slightly hollow on the top, our male GSW uses it as one of his drumming posts, it sound an awful lot different to when he's drumming a tree.

Pretty good evidence that it's percussive. If it were vocal it would always sound the same, I would suggest.

 

[midlandsbirder]

Pretty good evidence that it's percussive. If it were vocal it would always sound the same, I would suggest.

It always does sound the same to me just higher or lower in pitch, but I am willing to accept peoples observations,it is just that I have read that,some birders swear that it is vocal, and I am interested in the opinions of other birders, like if you were to cut off a Woodpeckers head and tap it on one of their hollow trees, could we get such a high volume of sound as they do? I cant see that we could? I do understand that it is a territorial thing, that makes sense.

 

[luke]

when he drumms on the post its rather loud compared to when its on trees, an i right in thinking theres something special about a woody's skull to help with the headache?? if thats true then it can't be vocal, anyway if it is vocal why would their heads be hitting the tree at the same time????

 

[midlandsbirder]

when he drumms on the post its rather loud compared to when its on trees, an i right in thinking theres something special about a woody's skull to help with the headache?? if thats true then it can't be vocal, anyway if it is vocal why would their heads be hitting the tree at the same time????

Hi Luke, have a read of this attachment which might answer that question?

 

[luke]

wow, thats rather interesting? might just have to shut up now? B

 

[midlandsbirder]

wow, thats rather interesting? might just have to shut up now? B

Hi Luke, it may be an incorrect observation!

 

[Katy Penland]

Not that what I've seen has any bearing on UK birds' habits, but I've not seen any North American woodpecker drum that didn't do it by hammering with its beak on whatever object made the sound most desired. For Lewis's Woodpecker and Northern Flicker (red-shafted), the drumming is part of their courtship ritual. Whether the Acorn, Red-naped Sapsucker, Ladderback, Nuttall's or Hairy woodies (direct observations) do it for the same reasons I don't know, but the drumming is definitely from jackhammering their bills onto something -- usually hollow-sounding branches but also on antennae, fence posts, empty metal drums, and even the window framing on our house.

 

[samuel walker]

i'm amazed at the love some of them have for metal objects. Medium sized woodies here like the redbelly and flicker will pound on gutters and chimney flashings. The stacatto of the rapping on an aluminum gutter can set my nerves on edge. I suppose gutters are a good catch basin for bugs and that attracts them. Or are they trying to "play" a different drum to show up the other guy two yards over who can only play a pin oak?
Sam

 

[David FG]

Hi Luke, have a read of this attachment which might answer that question?

As has been said, the observation might not be accurate, and 1932 is not exactly what one would call an up-to-date piece of work. Lots of things have moved on a bit since then.

 

[Pileated_MO]

i'm amazed at the love some of them have for metal objects. Medium sized woodies here like the redbelly and flicker will pound on gutters and chimney flashings. The stacatto of the rapping on an aluminum gutter can set my nerves on edge. I suppose gutters are a good catch basin for bugs and that attracts them. Or are they trying to "play" a different drum to show up the other guy two yards over who can only play a pin oak?
Sam

I've watched a flicker drum on the metal top of a street lamp, right outside my old bedroom window. It made a nice wake-up call. He did it two mornings in a row.
From what I understand, they'll drum on things that will magnify the sound and make it carry (such as metal) for territorial and mating purposes.

 

[KnockerNorton]

The 'vocal drumming' is the 'krrr-trill' call listed in BWP: "like quiet wooden rattle of disturbed Mistle Thrush, a hard 'kirr' like Magpie. Not loud and rather poorly known. Reminiscent of drumming and sometimes described as 'vocal drumming' with tip of tongue rapidly vibrated against bill."

The 1932 record, like many old notes in BB, is a very unreliable one-off anecdotal observation, so not a lot can be read into it. It may have been listening to a response from another bird for all we know.

BWP gives extensive details and spectrographs of instrumental drumming (against a substrate).

 

[Neil Grubb]

Psycho woodpecker

My local male great spotted woopecker woke me up on Easter Monday, drumming on my neigbour's satellite dish. The last two mornings he has been drumming on a metal bracket on a nearby electricity pylon. He has probably extended his territory tenfold by his clever use of amplification!

Neil

 

[midlandsbirder]

Drumming Woodpeckers

Thanks everyone for your input, it has been very interesting.