Wryneck

Wryneck

Taxobox
name = Wrynecks


image caption = Eurasian Wryneck
image_width = 200px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Piciformes
familia = Picidae
genus = "Jynx"
genus_authority = Linnaeus, 1758
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "J. torquilla"
"J. ruficollis"
The wrynecks (genus "Jynx") are a small but distinctive group of small Old World woodpeckers.

Like the true woodpeckers, wrynecks have large heads, long tongues which they use to extract their insect prey and zygodactyl feet, with two toes pointing forward, and two backwards. However, they lack the stiff tail feathers that the true woodpeckers use when climbing trees, so they are more likely than their relatives to perch on a branch rather than an upright trunk.

Their bills are shorter and less dagger-like than in the true woodpeckers, but their chief prey is ants and other insects, which they find in decaying wood or almost bare soil. They re-use woodpecker holes for nesting, rather than making their own holes. The eggs are white, as with many hole nesters.

The two species have cryptic plumage, with intricate patterning of greys and browns. The voice is a nasal woodpecker-like call.

These birds get their English name from their ability to turn their heads almost 180 degrees. When disturbed at the nest, they use this snake-like head twisting and hissing as a threat display. This odd behaviour led to their use in witchcraft, hence to put a "jinx" on someone.

There are two species:

*Eurasian Wryneck, "Jynx torquilla"
*Rufous-necked Wryneck, or Red-breasted Wryneck, "Jynx ruficollis"


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Wryneck — Wry neck, n. (Med.) [1913 Webster] 1. A twisted or distorted neck; a deformity in which the neck is drawn to one side by a rigid contraction of one of the muscles of the neck; torticollis. [1913 Webster] 2. a person suffering from torticollis.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • wryneck — ► NOUN ▪ a bird of the woodpecker family, with brown plumage and a habit of twisting its head backwards …   English terms dictionary

  • wryneck — [rīnek΄] n. 1. a) TORTICOLLIS b) a person afflicted with this 2. any of a genus (Jynx) of Old World woodpeckers with long, soft tail feathers and a habit of twisting the neck …   English World dictionary

  • wryneck — /ruy nek /, n. 1. Informal. a. torticollis. b. a person having torticollis. 2. any of several small Old World climbing birds of the subfamily Jynginae, of the woodpecker family, noted for the peculiar habit of twisting the head and neck. [1575… …   Universalium

  • Wryneck — grąžiagalvė statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas atitikmenys: lot. Jynx torquilla angl. Wryneck vok. Wendehals …   Paukščių anatomijos terminai

  • wryneck — grąžiagalvės statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas atitikmenys: lot. Jynx angl. wryneck vok. Wendehals, m rus. вертиголовка, f; вертишейка, f pranc. torcol, m ryšiai: platesnis terminas – grąžiagalvės siauresnis terminas – eurazinė grąžiagalvė… …   Paukščių pavadinimų žodynas

  • wryneck — noun Date: 1585 1. either of two Old World woodpeckers (Jynx torquilla or J. ruficollis) that differ from the typical woodpeckers in having soft tail feathers and a peculiar manner of writhing the neck 2. torticollis …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • wryneck — noun Either of two small woodpeckers, Jynx torquilla and Jynx ruficollis, of the Old World that can turn their heads almost 180 degrees …   Wiktionary

  • wryneck — SYN: torticollis. * * * wry·neck rī .nek n TORTICOLLIS * * * n. see torticollis * * * wry·neck (riґneck) torticollis …   Medical dictionary

  • wryneck — Synonyms and related words: adenoiditis, adrenitis, appendicitis, arteritis, arthritis deformans, arthritis fungosa, arthritis pauperum, atrophic arthritis, atrophic inflammation, blennorrhagic arthritis, bowlegs, brain fever, bronchitis, bunion …   Moby Thesaurus

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