Woodpecker dies in bizarre pecking accident in Alabama. Photo shows final moments
A woodpecker in Alabama just accomplished something most experts considered impossible — it killed itself while pecking.
That’s sort of like a goldfish drowning ... or an opossum suffering food poisoning from eating garbage.
A sad photo showing the red-bellied woodpecker’s bizarre final moments was posted on Facebook over the weekend by Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, under the headline “Wildlife in Predicaments.”
“This red-bellied woodpecker was found expired after getting its beak stuck in a pecan,” the division wrote.
“You can see its claw remains in position where efforts to free itself failed. Wildlife often faces all sorts of unexpected peril!”
Biologists didn’t explain how a pecan was able to trap and kill a bird with a 17-inch wing span and a well known ability to put holes in hardwood trees.
But nut experts say the South’s wild species of pecans “have thicker shells and smaller nuts” than those grown for commercial use, according to RoyalityPecans.com.
Red-bellied woodpeckers are primarily fruit and nut eaters, known for hanging upside down as they feast and using their bill to “probe for insects in trees and stumps,” according to a report by the OutdoorAlabama.com.
The species has developed countless pecking adaptations, including an “amazing ability to withstand tremendous blows to the head — brought on by their high-speed pecking — without suffering brain damage,” according to the Audubon Society.
“Woodpeckers hit their heads up to 20 times a second. But muscles, bones and an extra eyelid protect their small bird brains,” LiveScience reports.
News of the fatal woodpecker-vs.-pecan incident was greeted largely with sympathy for the bird on social media, though one taxidermy fan noted the corpse “would make a cool dead mount.”
“Nature has weird courses for controlling things,” Mitch Connor wrote.
“Death by food ... not the worst way to go,” Shane McCormick added.
This story was originally published March 2, 2020 at 8:31 AM with the headline "Woodpecker dies in bizarre pecking accident in Alabama. Photo shows final moments."