Largely arboreal birds, well adapted for climbing trees. Vocally they are fairly limited, but some species also signal by drumming their bill on a branch or another resonant surface.
The majority of woodpeckers are specialists in climbing tree trunks. They have evolved certain anatomical adaptations such as strong feet with mobile toes, claws for clinging to smooth surfaces, stiff tail feathers to help them steady themselves on tree trunks and other vertical surfaces, strong chisel shaped bills and skulls with attached shock-absorbers and also very long tongues for probing into crevices and insect nests to search out larvae. Many species eat ants in addition to other invertebrates. They may also hawk insects aerially and a number of species will occasionally come to the ground when foraging and will hop when doing so.
They are monogamous, most species excavate holes in trees as a nest, usually each season a fresh nest is hollowed out. They lay 2 - 4 white eggs. Incubation and care of young is done by both parents.

Campethera = caterpillar hunter (a misnomer)
Dendropicos = tree pecker
Geocolaptes = earth pecker
Jynx = name for a bird used in witchcraft

Wikipedia

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