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 :)

I really didn't realize how diverse they were!

I am amazed at how colorful woodpeckers can be and how two species can look so much alike. I enjoyed seeing the video of the woodpecker flake off big chunks of bark and how many insects were there to snack on.

I was most surprised by how pervasive woodpeckers are in the world. Same. So well distributed and so many species!

I did not know that the yellow bellied sapsucker migrated so far. 4800 miles. That’s crazy!

Wait! Maybe most surprising was the Wryneck imitating a snake.

It's surprising to learn that Downy and Hairy aren't that closely related and that the Hairy is more closely related to the Arizona. But I never imagined so many colorful woodpeckers such as the Yellow-fronted!

I did not realize that there were so many varieties and the colors of the others outside the US were just remarkable! Also, the smaller Piculet woodpeckers did not even look like what I think of as a woodpecker. Truly amazing!

how many look similar.  I have traveled to CA many times and I have often wondered who made those acorn holes. Now I know!

The behavior of the Acorn Woodpecker was fascinating and unexpected. I have never seen acorn granaries before even though I have been in the range of these birds on several occasions. The other surprising item was the visual similarity of fairly unrelated woodpecker species.

I am more familiar with American woodpecker species, so I enjoyed getting an introduction to the true woodpeckers found throughout the world. I also found it interesting to learn about the woodpeckers' cousins the piculets and wrynecks as they were new birds for me! I had heard about some woodpeckers who would nest in cacti, but woodpeckers using rocks was new to me. Finally, Acorn Woodpeckers are one of my favorites, so I enjoyed learning about telling males and females apart as it was new to me.

I was surprised to learn where there are no woodpeckers: Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar (and less surprising) certain islands. I thought that surely Australia would have some!

i had only recently learned that the downy and hairy woodpeckers were a result of convergent evolution and were not closely related.  It is interesting to me to see how many of the world's woodpeckers share that trait of convergent evolution.

I think what caught my attention most was the complicated social system of the Acorn Woodpeckers. I was aware that crows had 'helpers' and new 'breeders' from other populations/families, but not this species, or any species for that matter, of woodpeckers. The calls are pretty cool! Also am enjoying learning about the different species around the world - flamebacks are pretty spectatcular. Still not certain differences/relationships among the True Woodpeckers, Piculets, and Wrynecks.  

I was amazed by the many woodpeckers that exist in the world and their brilliant colors. Here in our yard in Virginia I have seen Downey, Hairy, Pileated, Yellow bellied Sapsuckers and Flickers - both the yellow and red shafted and a rare one time sighting of a Red-headed Woodpecker.  I would love to see the Acorn Woodpecker - sounds like a fun bird! I think my favorite is the Pileated Woodpecker, love watching them destroy rotten tree stumps in the yard, their calls are interesting and I enjoy watching them fly.

I found it amazing there are so many woodpeckers.   I know I could never see them all in my life time so it is awesome that they made this course.  Now I know what I have been missing.  Being from the New Jersey I have seen Red Head (Kevin's and my favorite), Northern Flicker (Yellow Tail), Downing, Yellow-belly Sapsucker and Hairy Woodpecker.  I wanted to expand my woodpecker life list so I went down to Louisiana and Texas this year.  I got the Ladderback near Austin and Red Cockaded in Louisiana.  I am now obsessed and will be headed out West to Arizona in May to hopefully add a few more woodpeckers to my life list.  Would love to see the Acorn WP.  I love these courses because they really help you to become a better birder and it supports a good cause.

I didn't realize that the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker migrated so far.