30 Wild Marlow Days - Day 8

• The green woodpecker's tongue is so long, around 10 cm, that it has to coil behind the skull, over the eyes and into the right nostril in order to fit inside the bird's head 💚

  The woodpecker's tongue accounts for about one third of its body length. If our tongues were that long, they would stretch out at around half a metre (1.5-2 ft). The green woodpecker's diet consists almost entirely of ants which is why it requires the long tongue. Ants nest are deep and long. It simply deploys the tongue on the nest, the ants stick to it and they lap them up similar to anteaters.

  Join the BTO Garden Birdwatch for free and help provide valuable data https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/gbw/join-gbw?dm_i=IG4,6TC8W,CGPH3A,RAFDT,1