- Wryneck
Taxobox
name = Wrynecks
image caption = Eurasian Wryneck
image_width = 200px
regnum =Animal ia
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 smallOld World woodpecker s.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
ant s 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
bird s get their English name from their ability to turn their heads almost 180 degrees. When disturbed at the nest, they use thissnake -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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