| Piciformes | ||||||||
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| Scientific classification | ||||||||
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| Families | ||||||||
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Picidae Capitonidae Ramphastidae Galbulidae[?] Bucconidae[?] Indicatoridae |
Six families of largely arboreal birds make up the order Piciformes, the best-known of them is the Picidae which includes the woodpeckers and close relatives. There are about 67 genera in the 6 families and a little over 400 species.
In general, the Piciformes are insectivorous, although the toucans mostly eat fruit and the honeyguides beeswax. All Piciformes, like the owls and parrots, have zygodactyl[?] feet—two toes forward and two back, an arrangement that has obvious advantages for birds that spend much of their time on tree trunks. The jacamars[?] aside, Piciformes do not have down at any age, only true feathers. All nest in cavities and have altricial[?] young.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump