They can look so similar, but not be related.

This is the first course I've taken, and already I am sure it will not be my last.  Very informative and well worthwhile.

The social dynamics of the acorn woodpecker was so interesting, especially as the mating females are often sisters and the males are a coalition of brother.

That the look-alike's are generally not closely related - that was fascinating.

We have many hairy and downy woodpeckers. I was surprised to find that they are completely unrelated.

The vast variety of woodpeckers. So many different colors and traits. It's amazing.

I live in Southern California, in north San Diego county. I have a wonderful group of Acorn Woodpeckers living in my yard. I have  several tall Liquid amber trees that have large dead branches at their tops. Over the years, the woodpeckers have made perfectly round holes in these high branches, and I can observe them going in and out of the holes. Of course, they have also made granary trees out of these Liquid amber trees, as well as in a nearby tall palm tree, and they are starting on some of my larger olive trees. Another species that comes to my bird feeders is the Nuttall's Woodpecker - there is a pair who especially enjoy the suet feeder. I absolutely love watching and listening to my woodpeckers at any time of day - they rock! :-)

Beautiful photos of these incredible birds!  What in interesting group and such beautiful plumage.

I knew there were a variety of brightly colored woodpeckers around the world, I did not know there were little woodpeckers with what I'll call stealthy owl plumage, very cool!

Have The granary’s at Hastings been destroyed by the fires?

The sheer diversity in size, shape, color, behavior...incredible! And I was surprised to learn about the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker's migration route.

I had never heard of the Imperial Woodpecker of Mexico.  I was amazed to see the video of the last recorded one.  An impressive, beautiful bird, sadly lost.

I was surprised to learn that the Acorn Woodpeckers actually have a family and they all work together gathering the acorns for the winter months.

I was amazed to learn how many species there are and that they are distributed almost worldwide. I'm fascinated by the colors exhibited by members of this family, not just the black, white, and red I'm used to.

Learning about the different local woodpecker species is what helped spark my interest in birding. I never realized how my local woodpeckers were just the tip of the iceberg. I'm amazed to learn about how different woodpeckers look and behave in different parts of the world! I also found the acorn woodpecker to be incredibly interesting and would love to watch them sometime in the future.

I'm surprised there are so many colors of woodpeckers, as I have only ever seen black, white, and red! The idea of mimicry is also fascinating to me. So strange that birds looking so much alike could be completely different species!

I am surprised by the number of species, how wide-ranging woodpeckers are, and how different they look from other woodpecker species.

The most significant thing about woodpeckers, to me, is that they remind us to preserve forests. Where would the woodpeckers be if there were no more trees? Even a dead, dry tree is of great value! That's why we created a nature reserve in Colombia called Los Carpinteros (Woodpeckers), to protect what little wildlife remains.

The acorn woodpecker! I had never heard of this fabulous creature and now it is my mission to travel where I can see them!

I've seen different species of woodpeckers around the world, including Canada, USA, Malaysia, Costa Rica, Japan, China, Germany... I did see those who look alike, especially flamebacks. Before I entered my observations in eBird, I thought those Flamebacks were all the same genus... but they were not!! Haven't seen any piculets yet but I hope one day will be my lucky day.

Learning about the Wyrnecks and Piculets was fascinating!  I assumed all woodpeckers were primary cavity nesters and had stiff tail feathers for stability during hitching.

For some reason I thought Northern Flickers and Gila Woodpeckers were the exception in that they are not black, red, and white. The color options of woodpeckers is really amazing.

I was surprised to learn that there are so many around the world. Learning about how the acorn woodpecker stores acorns and that they live is groups really surpeised me.

We were shocked to learn that downies and hairies aren't closely related! Woodpeckers are even more complex than we realized :)