Eurasian Wryneck

Eurasian Wryneck

Taxobox| name = Eurasian Wryneck
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1


regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Piciformes
familia = Picidae
subfamilia = Jynginae
genus = "Jynx"
species = "J. torquilla"
binomial = "Jynx torquilla"
binomial_authority = (Linnaeus, 1758)

The Eurasian Wryneck, "Jynx torquilla", is a species of wryneck in the family of woodpeckers.

This species breeds in temperate regions of Europe and Asia. It is migratory, wintering in tropical Africa and southern Asia. It is a bird of open woodland and orchards. On migration it is frequently seen in sandy areas, where it forages for ants.

Their bills are shorter and less dagger like than in the true woodpeckers, but their chief prey is ants and other insects, which they find in decaying wood or almost bare soil. They re-use woodpecker holes for nesting, rather than making their own holes. The eggs are white, as with many hole nesters.

These birds get their English name from their ability to turn their heads almost 180 degrees. When disturbed at the nest, they use this snake-like head twisting and hissing as a threat display. This odd behaviour led to their use in witchcraft, hence to put a "jinx" on someone.

There are six subspecies
* "Jynx torquilla chinensis" Hesse, 1911
* "Jynx torquilla himalayana" Vaurie, 1959
* "Jynx torquilla mauretanica" Rothschild, 1909
* "Jynx torquilla sarudnyi" Loudon, 1912
* "Jynx torquilla torquilla" Linnaeus, 1758
* "Jynx torquilla tschusii" O. Kleinschmidt,1907

External links

* [http://www.oiseaux.net/birds/photos/wryneck.html Oiseaux] Photos
* [http://www.ibercajalav.net/img/287_WryneckJtorquilla.pdf Ageing and sexing (PDF) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta]
* [http://www.bsc-eoc.org/avibase/species.jsp?lang=EN&id=C160E035DCFBC52F&ts=1221038449434&sec=summary Avibase]


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