Nature: The drum of the hairy woodpecker outpaces any rock 'n' roll star

 

Nature: The drum of the hairy woodpecker outpaces any rock 'n' roll star

There have been many astonishingly fast drummers. Legendary jazzman Buddy Rich comes to mind, as does Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham. Probably even faster is metal band Dream Theater’s drummer, Mike Mangini. He has been documented producing 20 beats a second!

Fast as he is, Mangini’s got nothing on a hairy woodpecker. A hairy at full speed hits the wood a mind-numbing 26 beats a second. Such a blistering rat-a-tat is far beyond what any human drummer can produce.

In the past few weeks, I’ve noticed the local woodpeckers drumming much more frequently. The neighborhood hairy woodpecker pair is at it, as are the red-bellied woodpeckers. The latter is a piker compared to the former, though: at full throttle, a red-bellied woodpecker cranks out 19 beats per second.

As winter wanes, woodpeckers step up their drumming. These rapid staccato bursts last for only a second or so and are not made as a byproduct of excavating grubs and other tasty wood-bound treats.

Fast drumming is how woodpeckers sing. It is the counterpart to songbirds’ songs; the brutish jackhammer operator to the cardinal’s sweet operatic aria. To the woodpecker, louder is better. A drummer commonly uses a hollowed-out tree snag. The substrate acts like an amplifier, increasing volume.

Especially ambitious woodpeckers sometimes use metal objects for drum skins, such as metal gutters or downspouts. I once watched a northern flicker demonstrate his prowess (25 beats per second!) in a northern Michigan campground. He used the numerous metal electrical boxes, there to service campsites, for drumming. All around the campground he flew, creating an ear-splitting cacophony on boxes throughout the site. Groggy early-morning campers were not amused, but I certainly was.

In our region, the most common woodpecker is the downy woodpecker. If you put out suet, they visit. Downy woodpeckers look like pint-sized hairy woodpeckers, but their small size doesn’t equate to greater speed. Although downys produce a comparatively anemic 17 beats a second, they still make a racket.

Although drumming is used to “sing” to prospective mates and current partners, it has other purposes. Woodpeckers work the perimeters of their territories, visiting established drumming trees. The routine pounding makes it clear to neighboring woodpeckers exactly where the invisible fence between turfs lies.

Drumming is also a way that mated pairs communicate with one another. Last summer, a friend, John Howard, and I got a dramatic example of this. While taking a rest in a large Highland County forest, we noticed a pair of crow-sized pileated woodpeckers vocalizing excitedly back and forth.

John and I were in between the birds, which were 100 yards or so apart and out of our sight. One was striking at wood, but not drumming. It was undoubtedly excavating for carpenter ants, beetle larvae or other insect fare.

Suddenly the pounding bird cackled maniacally, let out a rapid drum, and flew from the trees toward the other bird. Seconds later, a huge tree crashed to the ground right where the bird had flown from.

These giant birds regularly bring dead or dying trees down, as their massive excavations can greatly weaken the wood. It seemed clear the bird was telling his mate that something cool was about to happen.

These birds are well-designed for a life of hard knocks. Many strikes are given at 1,000 times or more the force of gravity. A blow less than a tenth that powerful would give a human a concussion if not instantly kill. Chisel-like bills that slice into wood rather than stop abruptly help dissipate shock. The bill design shunts energy away from the brain, further protecting it. And the brain is tightly packaged in a reinforced cranium, like a built-in helmet.

Because of their extraordinary ability to withstand high stresses, woodpeckers have long been studied by researchers. Technologies inspired by the birds’ physiology can lead to greater impact resistance in vehicles, aircraft and football helmets as well as other applications.

Naturalist Jim McCormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at www.jimmccormac.blogspot.com.