Don't worry: Sexual dimorphism is G-rated. It means that males and females of a species look different. Dimorphism means "two forms." Cardinals are a great example: Adult male cardinals are bright red; females are a warm brown.
What makes a woodpecker a woodpecker? Certainly their behavior is an identifying characteristic: Most forage for insects on the trunks and branches of trees, and drill holes to get to prey or sap within; they drum with their bill; and they nest and roost in cavities they have excavated. But woodpeckers also have unique anatomical adaptations to their ecological niche.
When summer's last blossom is a memory, and the music of bird song has been replaced by the drone of tired autumn insects, your thoughts may turn to the long winter ahead. Now is the time to improve, enhance, and expand the attractiveness of your property for birds and other wildlife. Here are 10 easy steps to help you get ready for winter.
I love woodpeckers and have managed to attract five woodpecker species to my backyard here in Kentucky. At my feeders they eat peanuts and suet and sunflower hearts. I know their natural food preferences are wood-boring insects, which they dig after with their chisellike bills. My question is this: How do they keep from knocking themselves out when they pound on a tree trunk repeatedly? Do they get concussions? Headaches?
—SIMONE, MUDLICK, KENTUCKY
My girlfriend lives in a apartment complex next to a river where there are lots of ducks. The management of the complex left the following note on the exit doors of the complex:
"ANGRY BIRDS!! The angry birds are back!! Please be careful!! These birds are protected, so we cannot injure them. They like to come at your head."
Is this an Alfred Hitchcock movie come to life? What kind of birds are these and why would they attack?
—Nervous Boyfriend (Dennis B.) Waukesha, Wisconsin
Dear Birdsquatch: Is hummingbirdicide a crime? I adore eight of my hummingbirds, but Number 9, a male, is making life difficult for all the others. I want to kill him. Not really, but he must be stopped! Can I trap him and relocate him? Any advice?
—Fern B.,
Rolla, Missouri