European green woodpecker main food of the European green woodpecker is ants of the genera "Lasius" and "Formica" for which it spends much of its time foraging on the ground, though other insects and small reptiles are also taken occasionally. The bird's distinctive, elongated, cylindrical droppings often consist entirely of ant remains. At ant nests, it probes into the ground and licks up adult ants and their larvae. They have tongues that wrap to the back of their head. Green woodpeckers will often forage in short grazed or mown permanent grasslands where the availability of ant nests is high. A study of a
Abyssinian woodpecker and ecology of the Abyssinian woodpecker is almost unknown. It is an unobtrusive bird which probes for food among moss growing on trees. It is thought that the nesting period probably runs between December and May. The Abyssinian woodpecker has a very large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable and is currently classed as Least Concern but it is thought to be decreasing in population and contracting its range due to continuing clearance of woodlands. Abyssinian woodpecker The Abyssinian woodpecker ("Dendropicos abyssinicus"), also known as the "golden-backed woodpecker" or the "golden-mantled woodpecker", is a species of