Q 01/05

Woodpeckers belong to which bird family?

A) Corvidae

B) Picidae

C) Sittidae

D) Certhiidae

Answer · why

B) Picidae

Picidae. Nuthatches (Sittidae) and treecreepers (Certhiidae) work their way over trunks in much the same manner, but both are songbirds and no relatio...

Q 02/05

Which inhabited continent has no native woodpeckers at all?

A) Africa

B) South America

C) Australia

D) Asia

Answer · why

C) Australia

Australia. Woodpeckers never reached New Guinea or Madagascar either, and mammals took the vacant job: Madagascar's aye-aye and Australia's striped po...

Q 03/05

Which explorer of the American West gives his name to a woodpecker first collected on his 1803-06 expedition?

A) William Clark

B) Meriwether Lewis

C) Zebulon Pike

D) John C. Frémont

Answer · why

B) Meriwether Lewis

Meriwether Lewis. Lewis's woodpecker hardly behaves like one: it swoops out from a perch to catch insects in mid-air like a flycatcher, and his partne...

Q 04/05

Which desert woodpecker is best known for digging its nest holes in giant saguaro cacti?

A) The pileated

B) The downy

C) The red-headed

D) The Gila

Answer · why

D) The Gila

The Gila. Its holes turn each saguaro into a desert apartment block: once the woodpecker moves out, owls, flycatchers, martins and kestrels move in.

Q 05/05

The smallest woodpeckers of all belong to which group of mostly South American birds?

A) Flamebacks

B) Sapsuckers

C) Piculets

D) Yellownapes

Answer · why

C) Piculets

Piculets. They forage out on the thinnest twigs and bamboo stems, pecking at them for insects just as their big relatives work over whole trunks.