This is Scientific Americans 60 Second Science.

I'm Jason Goldman.

Some birds produce beautiful songs.

Woodpeckers are not among them. The most familiar sound they make is when they tap on tree trunks with their bills to produce what's called drumming.

The drumming that they show is essentially them kind of slamming their head against a tree, you know, at remarkable speed.

Wake Forest University biologist Matthew Fuchsager.

Some of the woodpeckers will use this kind of drumming type maneuvering to

excavate a nest. They'll make little caches in a tree to store food or some of

them will actually forage that way but then they also use it for the social signal.

Fuchs Aiger's team broadcast the pre-recorded sounds of headslams to mated pairs of downy woodpeckers in the woods nearby.

They discovered that there's a lot of information communicated in the drumming.

For example, woodpeckers that produce shorter drums are probably kind of wimpy and easy to beat in a fight.

But if a drum is longer, the challenger might be advertising itself as a stronger, tougher bird,

one that's a bit harder to fend off.

And after hearing recordings of long drums, pairs of birds began to coordinate the defense of

their territory.

They don't bother with such behavior after short drums.

The researchers think that this kind of coordination might have evolved

because woodpeckers invest so much time and energy carving out their nest hole in a tree.

If they were kicked out and had to start over, they might not get a chance to reproduce and fledge their offspring.

By responding only to more realistic threats, Woodpecker pairs can conserve energy to be expended at the hard work of raising their headstrong chicks.

Thanks for listening.

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