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
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.