GREEN WOODPECKER POOP

An old favourite, this one, but surely worth a repeat viewing. Green Woodpeckers make some of the most distinctive, interesting poops of all our birds. Contrary to non-birdwatchers’ expectations, Green Woodpeckers are predominantly terrestrial rather than arboreal feeders; spending much of their time hopping about on grassy habitats hoovering up ants with their long sticky tongues. Their little droppings appear white and cylindrical, a bit like discarded roll-up cigarettes, usually on the ground and sometimes on anthills. Initially soft, they soon harden and when like this can be crumbled to reveal the contents (and so what the woodpecker has eaten). Under the white crust, the main dark mass invariably consists of a compacted mass of chitinous insect exoskeletons (almost always ants), mixed with sandy grains and plant fibres ingested as ‘bycatch’.