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Articles

Vol. 46 No. 1 (2015)

FEATURED PHOTO: POSSIBLE TOOL USE BY A WILLIAMSON’S SAPSUCKER

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21199/WB46.1.10
Submitted
September 20, 2025
Published
January 1, 2015

Abstract

Tool use has been demonstrated in a number of avian species (Lefebvre et al. 2002). Perhaps the best-known example is the Woodpecker Finch (Camarhynchus pallidus) of the Galápagos Islands, which breaks off cactus spines or twigs for use in extracting wood-boring insects (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1961, Eibl-Eibesfeldt and Sielman 1962, Tebbich et al. 2002). New Caledonian Crows (Corvus moneduloides) display exceptional skill in selecting, manufacturing, and utilizing objects to obtain food items that they are otherwise unable to reach (Hunt 1996). In North America, Brown-headed Nuthatches (Sitta pusilla) have been observed to use flakes of pine bark to remove other pieces of bark in order to capture insects underneath (Morse 1968, Pranty 1995). All of the above behaviors are considered true tool use in that they involve a tool being held directly by the beak or foot of the bird (Lefebvre et al. 2002). Numerous woodpecker species have been observed to use “anvils” such as tree forks or crevices into which food items are wedged to facilitate consumption (Bondo et al. 2008). Most such cases represent proto-anvils consisting of natural crevices. Great Spotted Woodpeckers (Dendrocopos major), however, use “true anvils” that they excavate in tree trunks. Here we report observations of a Williamson’s Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus) using a wood flake for foraging.

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