European green woodpecker but is made sticky by secretions from the enlarged salivary glands. Heavy, prolonged snow cover makes feeding difficult for the green woodpecker and can result in high mortality, from which it may take 10 years for the population to recover. Ant nests can be located under the snow; one bird was observed to dig 85 cm to reach a nest. 'Professor Yaffle', the wooden bookend character in the 1974 children's animation series "Bagpuss", was based loosely upon the green woodpecker. 'Yaffle' was among many English folk names for the European green woodpecker relating to its laughing call; others include laughing
Little green woodpecker Little green woodpecker The little green woodpecker or golden-backed woodpecker ("Campethera maculosa") is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is found in Africa, living in forest edges, clearings, and forest-shrub mosaics. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as a least-concern species. This species was described by Achille Valenciennes in 1826, as "Picus maculosus". It does not include any subspecies, but the subspecies "permista" of the green-backed woodpecker is sometimes included in this species. The two species have hybridised in Ghana. The little green woodpecker is about long and weighs about . The