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
Imperial woodpecker Imperial woodpecker The imperial woodpecker ("Campephilus imperialis") is a species of bird, a member of the woodpecker family Picidae. The genus "Campephilus" is essentially a tropical one, embracing 13 species, including the imperial woodpecker. If it is not extinct, it is the world's largest woodpecker species, at long. Researchers have discovered that the imperial woodpecker has slow climbing strides and a fast wing-flap rate compared with other woodpeckers. Owing to its close taxonomic relationship, and a similarity in appearance, to the ivory-billed woodpecker, it is sometimes called the "Mexican ivorybill", but this name is also used for the pale-billed woodpecker.