by M. Kathy Raines

Its vigorous, automatic rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat startled me when it first appeared. Whose cell phone? What alert is that? Then this creature — hitting his stride, hammering on a metal vent on our roof early each morning — served as a consistent, unwelcome alarm clock throughout April and early May.

We worried the woodpecker was trapped in our attic. Then, before detecting its metal target, my husband tossed pebbles onto the roof, trying to scare it off lest it damage the wood. The bird fluttered off, but, committed to his task, returned. We soon accustomed ourselves to his steady percussion as we have to the thrumming of several garage bands.

Our culprit was a male. These birds drum, creating a sequence of rolls before or after one to four taps, to attract a mate and establish territory. To our relief, he seemed to have cemented his relationship by mid-May and settled down. Still, I’m heartened that the charming couple has chosen our yard or its environs to raise its brood.

As with other avian events, like the summer a raucous flock of parrots repeatedly, for one season only, feasted on our backyard acorns, the sudden onset of this woodpecker’s ardent drumming puzzles me. Why has this percussion never awakened us before? Well, birds certainly follow their own logic, which we can merely guess at, and their society alters, as does ours.

The stunning golden-fronted woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons) joins its fellow woodpeckers and allies in the order Piciformes, most of whose members have zygodactylic feet, with two pointing forward and two back. “Pici” derives from Picus, a character in Ovid’s “Metamorphosis,” whom the peeved goddess Circe transformed into a woodpecker. This woodpecker’s family is Picidae.

The bird’s genus name, Melanerpes, means “black creeper” in Greek. Its species, Aurifrons, combines Latin “auri” for gold and “frons” for forehead. In Spanish, this woodpecker is called “carpintero frentidorado”, literally, carpenter, or woodpecker, with a golden forehead.

A golden nape — brighter in males than females — along with a small yellow patch above its bill inspires this woodpecker’s name. Zebra-backed, with a white rump and light underparts, it wears a black, stiff, thick-quilled tail which serves as a brake or anchor. The male alone wears a signature red cap. A juvenile looks similar but has a streaked breast and brown crown. The woodpecker’s powerful claws allow it to travel up and down limbs and trunks.

With its long, flexible neck, the woodpecker efficiently hammers its sturdy bill into wood to procure insects and excavate its nest. Its upper bill, longer than the lower one, absorbs most of the shock, the force of which travels along the path of its hyoid, or lingual, bone, rather than to the skull, thus preventing brain trauma.

Omnivorous birds, these woodpeckers eat invertebrates and occasional eggs, small lizards, pet food and carrion, but also fruit, including that of the prickly pear, with which they often become purpled, seeds and nuts. They pry open mesquite pods for seeds.

Our backyard woodpeckers appear to have a rabid sweet tooth. Somersaulting and clinging upside down, they are the first customers to suck the peanut butter and jelly I serve in a millet feeder.

This woodpecker commonly gleans insects from bark, probing crevices and dead wood with its barbed, sticky tongue. Its muscle-covered hyoid bone permits it to extend and manipulate its tongue, which miniscule muscles bend in multiple directions. The bird also “hawks” or catches insects mid-flight.

Golden-fronted woodpeckers, which include four subspecies, are quite versatile, thriving in dry, semi-open woodlands, savannas, scrub and many residential backyards. This nonmigratory bird occupies most of Texas and extends north to Oklahoma and south to Central America.

A pair of golden-fronted woodpeckers nurtures two or three broods a year. During courtship, both males and females engage in head-swinging and bill-pointing, and the male hunches to clearly display his red crown. Also, the pair vocalizes and taps in call-and-response.

Sometimes, before copulation, a female momentarily flutters onto a male’s back.

The woodpeckers both excavate a nest in a tree — dead palm trees are popular sites — pole or poles, usually from eight to 20 feet high, which they may reuse. Owls, wrens and titmice may also employ them.

Both woodpeckers labor at the cavity for a week or so, creating a two-inch opening, then dig back and downwards a foot or so, using woodchips for bedding. They keep the nest tidy.

The female lays one of her four or five eggs, sometimes resting a day between exertions. The male also tends to eggs and chicks, often at night.

Naked, pink-skinned chicks hatch in 12 to 14 days, fledge in about 30 and gain independence two or three days later. Parents take a few weeks’ break between broods.

These woodpeckers are vocal year-round as they call, usually in the morning or near sunset, greet and warn one another.

To begin flight, the bird springs from a surface with feet and tail, dropping slightly before spreading its wings. It speedily flaps, then pulls its wings inwards in a glide. The woodpeckers hop on the ground and limbs and, when walking on vertical surfaces, lunge forward as they release their feet. To descend, they hop back, usually tail first.

Aggressively defending its turf, a golden-fronted woodpecker swings and bobs its head, points its bill and, if necessary, stretches out its wings and lunges at an opponent, expelling the intruder from its territory. Warring woodpeckers jab each other’s heads with their bills, locking feet when aloft.

In the 1930s, hunters killed golden-fronted woodpeckers because they damaged utility poles, and populations declined. Now, however, the birds appear to have comfortably adjusted to human habitats, and their range has expanded. To prevent woodpecker damage, Texas Parks and Wildlife recommends placing a homemade nest box at a woodpecker’s nesting or roosting site.

These woodpeckers are preyed upon by the aplomado falcon and the Texas rat snake, as well as other raptors and serpents. The oldest golden-fronted woodpecker on record was close to six years of age.