Golden-fronted Woodpecker

A female Golden-fronted Woodpecker, (Melanerpes aurifrons), visited the feeder this morning. Females lack the red crown (which can be seen here).

Their common name comes from the yellow patch near the bill. The scientific name Melanerpes is Latin for "black creeper" and aurifrons for "gold-fronted".

This is a noisy bird with a very loud vocalization. Their song is a trilling "churrrrrrrrr-churrrrrrrr", flicker like "kek-kek-kek-kek-kek-kek" or "check, check".

Unlike most woodpeckers, the Golden-fronted finds most of its food by scavenging insects and larvae from the surface & subsurface of trees and along the ground. Other woodpeckers find food by drilling into trees. Golden-fronted woodpeckers have a specially developed hyoid apparatus which helps them extend their tongue extremely long distances in order to spear insects beneath bark or leaf litter. (Bock, 1999b)

Also unusual is the fact that they consume as much fruit and nuts as they do insects... although grasshoppers are their favorite food.

Notice her zygodactylous toes (2 pointing forward, 2 pointing backward).