You can probably recognize a woodpecker as soon as you see one. Unless it's flying, the bird is

probably sitting upright, clinging to the side of a tree trunk. Maybe it's hitching itself

upward in short little bursts. Maybe it's hammering its bill rapidly against the tree.

You may not know which species you're looking at, but you know what type of bird it is.

You've got yourself a woodpecker.

The body plan of a typical woodpecker is the same all around the world, across about 200 species.

Sure, some have jazzier crests on their heads and some are more colorful,

but pretty much all of them have the machinery needed

for the special task of hacking into wood with their beaks.

This might involve just methodically flicking flakes of bark off a trunk, or it might involve

obliterating large sections of a decaying tree.

How do you feel when you spot a woodpecker?

I hope the answer is super stoked.

That's certainly how I feel. In my experience, as a birding guide, I'd say people are usually pretty happy to see woodpeckers. These birds are charismatic and really fun to watch.

A few hours from where I live in Oregon, there is a sort of mini biodiversity hotspot for

woodpeckers. East of the Cascades Range, in a narrow north-south band of Ponderosa pine

forest, 11 woodpecker species regularly breed. My favorite is probably the white-headed

woodpecker. It's uncommon enough that I don't always find one

when I'm out that way. The little town of Sisters, Oregon sits right at the heart of this

woodpecker vortex. There's actually an annual woodpecker festival there, with guided birding

excursions to find all the species. I would happily spend a day or two or three

searching for every one of those 11 woodpecker species.

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