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
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