Wrynecks | |
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Eurasian wryneck (Jynx torquilla) Punjab, India | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Piciformes |
Family: | Picidae |
Subfamily: | Jynginae |
Genus: | Jynx Linnaeus, 1758 |
Type species | |
Jynx torquilla (Eurasian wryneck) Linnaeus, 1758 | |
Species | |
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Range map for Eurasian wryneck | |
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Range map for red-necked wryneck Summer Resident Winter |
The wrynecks (genus Jynx) are a small but distinctive group of small Old World woodpeckers. Jynx is from the Ancient Greek iunx, the Eurasian wryneck.
These birds get their English name from their ability to turn their heads almost 180°. When disturbed at the nest, they use this snake-like head twisting and hissing as a threat display. It has occasionally been called "snake-bird" for that reason. [1]
Like the true woodpeckers, wrynecks have large heads, long tongues, which they use to extract their insect prey, and zygodactyl feet, with two toes pointing forward and two backwards, but they lack the stiff tail feathers that the true woodpeckers use when climbing trees, so they are more likely than their relatives to perch on a branch rather than an upright trunk. The sexes have a similar appearance. [2]
Their bills are shorter and less dagger-like than in the true woodpeckers, but their chief prey is ants and other insects, which they find in decaying wood or almost bare soil. They reuse woodpecker holes for nesting, rather than making their own holes. The eggs are white, as with many hole nesters.
The two species have cryptic plumage, with intricate patterning of greys and browns. The adult moults rapidly between July and September, although some moult continues in its winter quarters. [3]
The woodpeckers are an ancient bird family consisting of three subfamilies, the wrynecks, the piculets and the true woodpeckers, Picinae. DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis show that the wrynecks are a sister clade to other woodpeckers including the Picinae and probably diverged early from the rest of the family. [4]
The wryneck subfamily Jynginae has one genus, Jynx, introduced in 1758 by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae . [5] Linnaeus placed a single species in the genus, the Eurasian wryneck (Jynx torquilla), which is therefore the type species. [6] The genus name Jynx is from the Ancient Greek name for the Eurasian wryneck, ιυγξ, iunx , and ruficollis is from the Latin rufus, "rufous" and collum "neck". [7] The English "wryneck" refers to the habit of birds in this genus of twisting and writhing their necks when agitated. It was first recorded in 1585. [8] The red-throated wryneck was first identified by German ornithologist Johann Georg Wagler in 1830. [9] [10] It is also known as the rufous-necked wryneck or red-breasted wryneck. [11]
The two wrynecks form a superspecies that probably separated early in their evolution from the piculets, [4] although there has subsequently been only limited divergence between the Jynx species. [12] [13]
The woodpecker family appears to have diverged from other Piciformes about fifty million years ago, [4] and a 2017 study considered that the split between Jynx and other woodpeckers occurred about 22.5 million years ago. [14] A fossil dating from the early Miocene, more than twenty million years ago, consisting of the distal end of a tarsometatarsus had some ‘’Jynx’’-like features, but was classed as an early piculet. [15] By the Pliocene (five million years ago) woodpeckers were similar to those now extant. Fossil wrynecks are known from Europe in the Pleistocene, between 2.6 million and 11,700 years ago. [4]
The two species in Jynx are restricted to the Palearctic biogeographic realm and Africa. The Eurasian wryneck breeds across temperate Europe and Asia, and one of only two Old World woodpeckers to undertake long-distance migration mainly wintering in sub-Saharan Africa and tropical Asia. [16] The rufous-necked wryneck has a disjunct distribution confined to sub-Saharan Africa. [12] It is resident, although there may be local movements and post-breeding dispersal. [17] Both wrynecks have several geographical subspecies. [10] [18]
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
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Eurasian wryneck | Jynx torquilla Linnaeus, 1758 Six subspecies
| Palearctic from the Arctic Circle south to Spain, Algeria, Morocco, southern Siberia, Central Asia, Japan and southern China. [19] [20] Winters south of the Sahara from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east, and in tropical South and Southeast Asia. [18] ![]() | Size: 17 cm (6.7 in). [21] 26 to 50 g (0.92 to 1.76 oz) {J. t. tschusii. [22] Habitat: Open countryside and gardens, especially with some old trees. [21] Diet: Mainly ants [21] | LC |
Red-throated wryneck | Jynx ruficollis (Wagler, 1830) | Resident in sub-Saharan Africa [12] from Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Ethiopia south to South Africa and Eswatini. [19] ![]() | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Picinae containing the true woodpeckers is one of four subfamilies that make up the woodpecker family Picidae. True woodpeckers are found over much of the world, but do not occur in Madagascar or Australasia.
The great spotted woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker with pied black and white plumage and a red patch on the lower belly. Males and young birds also have red markings on the neck or head. This species is found across the Palearctic including parts of North Africa. Across most of its range it is resident, but in the north some will migrate if the conifer cone crop fails. Some individuals have a tendency to wander, leading to the recolonisation of Ireland in the first decade of the 21st century and to vagrancy to North America. Great spotted woodpeckers chisel into trees to find food or excavate nest holes, and also drum for contact and territorial advertisement; like other woodpeckers, they have anatomical adaptations to manage the physical stresses from the hammering action. This species is similar to the Syrian woodpecker.
The European green woodpecker is a large green woodpecker with a bright red crown and a black moustache. Males have a red centre to the moustache stripe which is absent in females. It is resident across much of Europe and the western Palearctic but in Spain and Portugal it is replaced by the similar Iberian green woodpecker.
Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme polar regions. Most species live in forests or woodland habitats, although a few species are known that live in treeless areas, such as rocky hillsides and deserts, and the Gila woodpecker specialises in exploiting cacti. Woodpeckers are known as the loudest birds of the forest.
Nine families of largely arboreal birds make up the order Piciformes, the best-known of them being the Picidae, which includes the woodpeckers and close relatives. The Piciformes contain about 71 living genera with a little over 450 species, of which the Picidae make up about half.
The piculets are a distinctive subfamily, Picumninae, of small woodpeckers which occur mainly in tropical South America, with just three Asian and one African species.
The Eurasian wryneck or northern wryneck is a species of wryneck in the woodpecker family. They mainly breed in temperate regions of Europe and Asia. Most populations are migratory, wintering in tropical Africa and in southern Asia from Iran to the Indian subcontinent, but some are resident in northwestern Africa. It is a bird of open countryside, woodland and orchards.
The red-throated wryneck, also known as the rufous-necked wryneck or red-breasted wryneck, is a species of wryneck in the woodpecker family closely related to the Eurasian wryneck. Its three subspecies are resident in much of sub-Saharan Africa in open habitats with some trees. It is a slim, elongated bird about 19 cm (7.5 in) in length, with a small head, fine bill, long fan-shaped tail and cryptic plumage intricately patterned in greys and browns. The sexes look similar, although males are slightly larger. The diet of the adults and young is almost entirely ants at all stages of their life cycles. The call of the red-throated wryneck is a series of repeated harsh, shrill notes. When threatened, a bird will twist its neck and head in a snake-like manner while making a hissing sound, presumably to deter predators.
The hairy woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker that is found over a large area of North America. It is approximately 250 mm (9.8 in) in length with a 380 mm (15 in) wingspan. With an estimated population in 2020 of almost nine million individuals, the hairy woodpecker is listed by the IUCN as a species of least concern. Some nomenclature authorities, such as the eBird/Clements checklist, place this species in the genus Dryobates.
The Eurasian three-toed woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker that is found from northern Europe across northern Asia to Japan.
The middle spotted woodpecker is a European woodpecker belonging to the genus Dendrocoptes.
The rufous woodpecker is a medium-sized brown woodpecker native to South and Southeast Asia. It is short-billed, foraging in pairs on small insects, particularly ants and termites, in scrub, evergreen, and deciduous forests and is noted for building its nest within the carton nests of arboreal ants in the genus Crematogaster. It was for sometime placed in the otherwise Neotropical genus Celeus but this has been shown to be a case of evolutionary convergence and molecular phylogenetic studies support its placement in the monotypic genus Micropternus.
Picus is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family. It has representatives in Europe, Asia and North Africa. The genus name is Latin for "woodpecker". The genus Picus was erected by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.
The red-necked woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
The blond-crested woodpecker is a species of bird in the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.
The waved woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Meiglyptes is a genus of Southeast Asian birds in the woodpecker family Picidae.
Picumnus is a large genus of piculets. With a total length of 8–10 cm (3–4 in), they are among the smallest birds in the woodpecker family. All species are found in the Neotropics except the speckled piculet that has a wide distribution in China, India and Southeast Asia.
Picides is an infraorder of the order Piciformes that includes woodpeckers and honeyguides. The honeyguides were thought to be closely related to the barbets, as their aerial displays and vocalizations are more similar to each other than either are to woodpeckers. However, phylogenetic analysis has shown that honeyguides and woodpeckers are indeed sister taxa.
Yungipicus is a genus of woodpeckers in the family Picidae native to Asia. The species in this genus were previously placed in the genus Dendrocopos.