{"id":39973,"date":"2019-06-17T15:33:11","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T19:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/?p=39973"},"modified":"2022-12-20T13:22:32","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T18:22:32","slug":"are-woodpeckers-evolving-to-look-like-each-other-a-new-study-says-yes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/are-woodpeckers-evolving-to-look-like-each-other-a-new-study-says-yes\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Woodpeckers Evolving to Look Like Each Other? A New Study Says Yes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n              <figure class=\"size-large alignnone\">\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WoodpeckerMimicryWorldMap_large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WoodpeckerMimicryWorldMap_large-1280x956.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WoodpeckerMimicryWorldMap_large-720x538.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WoodpeckerMimicryWorldMap_large-768x573.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WoodpeckerMimicryWorldMap_large-1280x956.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WoodpeckerMimicryWorldMap_large-480x358.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WoodpeckerMimicryWorldMap_large.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"Around the world there are several pairs of woodpeckers that look alike but aren\u2019t closely related. Research led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology\u2019s Eliot Miller documented this doppelganger phenomenon around the world among pairs of woodpecker species that genetically diverged millions of year ago. Miller says the mechanism is plumage mimicry\u2014one species evolving to look like another in order to gain some benefit. In the case of smaller-sized doppelgangers, they may be evolving to look like their bigger twins so that they can gain some of the dominance benefits associated with a larger, more aggressive bird. Graphic by Jillian Ditner\/Cornell Lab of Ornithology; bird illustrations courtesy of Handbook of Birds of the World Alive, Lynx Editions\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n                <figcaption>Around the world there are several pairs of woodpeckers that look alike but aren\u2019t closely related. Cornell Lab researcher Eliot Miller suggests the mechanism is plumage mimicry\u2014one species evolving to look like another in order to gain some benefit. For example, smaller woodpeckers may be evolving to look like their bigger twins so that they can gain some dominance benefits associated with a larger, more aggressive bird. <em>Graphic by Jillian Ditner\/Cornell Lab; bird illustrations courtesy of Handbook of Birds of the World Alive, Lynx Edicions.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure>\n            <\/div>\n<p><small><em>From the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/living-bird-summer-2019-table-of-contents\">Summer 2019<\/a> issue of <\/em>Living Bird<em> magazine. <a href=\"https:\/\/join.birds.cornell.edu\/ea-action\/action?ea.client.id=1806&amp;ea.campaign.id=24577&amp;ea.tracking.id=LBO\">Subscribe now<\/a>.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group sidebar-alignright sidebar-space order-bottom\"><div class=\"article-list list-style alignright\"><h2 class=\"article-list-header\">More From Living Bird<\/h2><ul><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-living-bird-toc\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/LB-FI-GWWA-Keys.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/LB-FI-GWWA-Keys-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/LB-FI-GWWA-Keys-240x135.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/LB-FI-GWWA-Keys-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/LB-FI-GWWA-Keys-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/LB-FI-GWWA-Keys.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">Living Bird Summer 2019\u2014Table of Contents<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-living-bird-toc\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest.png 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest-240x180.png 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest-480x360.png 480w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Living Bird-latest issue\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">Living Bird Magazine\u2014Latest Issue<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-article\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive.png 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive-240x180.png 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive-480x360.png 480w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Living Bird archives\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">Living Bird Magazine Archives<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers are a classic case of confusing species. Both woodpeckers sport similar black-and-white plumages, males of both species don a red mark on the back of their heads, and the two species\u2019 habitats and ranges overlap considerably.<\/p>\n<p>But despite being look-alikes, these two species are not that closely related. Their genetic lineages split off from a shared ancestor over 6 million years ago\u2014about as far back as chimps and humans split. The Hairy Woodpecker is more closely related to the very different looking Red-cockaded Woodpecker, while the Downy is closer to Nuttall\u2019s Woodpecker.<\/p>\n<p>A new study published in April in the journal Nature Communications provides strong evidence that Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers are an example of \u201cplumage mimicry\u201d\u2014one species of bird evolving to match the plumage patterns and colors of another. And the researchers found more instances of woodpecker doppelgangers all around the world, including Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers that look like Great Spotted Woodpeckers in Europe; and Cardinal Woodpeckers that look like Gabon Woodpeckers in Africa.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOther researchers have noticed these pairings before, but this is the first\u00a0time anyone has tried to conclusively demonstrate that these similarities are true mimicry,\u201d says Eliot Miller, lead author of the study and collections development manager at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology\u2019s Macaulay Library.<\/p>\n<p>The new study sought to explain how it is that the Downy and Hairy Woodpecker, or the White-naped Woodpecker and Black-rumped Flameback (two Asian species that resemble Pileated Woodpeckers painted with a strip of gold), can look nearly identical even though they have been evolving separately for millions of years. Miller and his colleagues compared 230 woodpecker species across the globe. For each woodpecker pairing, they tested how strongly genetics, habitat, climate conditions, and geographic proximity correlated to similarities in plumage patterns.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group sidebar-alignright sidebar-space order-bottom\"><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->\r\n<span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\">\r\n    <span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\" id=\"hs-cta-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\">\r\n        <!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div><![endif]-->\r\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/cta-redirect.hubspot.com\/cta\/redirect\/95627\/096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\" ><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img\" id=\"hs-cta-img-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\" style=\"border-width:0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/95627\/096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da.png\"  alt=\"subscribe to Living Bird magazine\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\r\n    <\/span>\r\n    <script charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/js.hscta.net\/cta\/current.js\"><\/script>\r\n    <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n        hbspt.cta.load(95627, '096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da', {});\r\n    <\/script>\r\n<\/span>\r\n<!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>After comparing millions of eBird observations, satellite readings of habitats, and complex color and pattern measurements of the woodpeckers, their results showed that geographic overlap\u2014sharing ranges\u2014was a better predictor of look-alikes than genetics, habitat, or climate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fact that the strongest correlation for these look-alikes was range overlap, rather than any of the other possibilities we looked at, strongly suggests there is mimicry happening,\u201d says Miller.<\/p>\n<p>Mimicry occurs when one species evolves to look like another species because of the social interactions between the two. In most cases, mimicry conveys some advantage to the species that is doing the mimicking. Classic examples include flies that evolved to look like stinging bees and nonpoisonous butterflies that evolved to look like toxic butterflies.<\/p>\n<p>Miller\u2019s study was focused on identifying whether (not why) plumage mimicry is occurring among woodpeckers. But he does have a theory on what\u2019s driving these distant-cousin woodpeckers to look like identical twins. Miller suggests that the smaller, more passive of the pair might evolve to look like the larger, more aggressive bird to discourage predators, or to intimidate competition. A nuthatch or a titmouse might think twice about competing with a Downy Woodpecker at the bird feeder if it thinks it\u2019s going up against the more formidable Hairy Woodpecker. (Previous research using Project FeederWatch data <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/when-136-bird-species-show-up-at-a-feeder-which-one-wins\/\">ranked Hairy Woodpeckers much higher than Downy Woodpeckers in terms of dominance<\/a>.) Miller says field experiments would be needed to more conclusively test this hypothesis.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group legacy-sidebar sidebar-alignright has-lightgray-background-color has-background\">\n<h4>Reference<\/h4>\n<p>Miller, Eliot, et al. 2019. <a href=\"https:\/\/rdcu.be\/bFihN\">Climate, habitat, and geographic range overlap drive plumage evolution and mimicry in wood-peckers<\/a>. Nature Communications 10, DOI: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467-019-09721-w<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The data also turned up some other interesting connections between woodpecker appearance and habitat. Many tropical woodpeckers have darker feathers, adding evidence to support \u201cGloger\u2019s rule,\u201d the theory that animals in humid environments tend to be darker than their counterparts in drier climes. They also found that woodpecker species with red heads tend to live in forested habitats; black, white, or gray species tend to live in open habitats; woodpeckers with red on their bellies are most often found in forests; and woodpeckers with large patches of color on their bellies are most often found in open habitats.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy looking at what drove these woodpeckers to look like one another, not only have we demonstrated mimicry in birds, but we have learned a great deal more about what\u2019s behind the plumage patterns of some species,\u201d said Miller.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the Summer 2019 issue of Living Bird magazine. Subscribe now. Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers are a classic case of confusing species. Both woodpeckers sport similar black-and-white plumages, males of<a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/are-woodpeckers-evolving-to-look-like-each-other-a-new-study-says-yes\/\" title=\"ReadAre Woodpeckers Evolving to Look Like Each Other? A New Study Says Yes\">&#8230; Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":39977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_birdpress_living_bird_toc":0,"_birdpress_living_bird_toc_title":"","_birdpress_featured_image":false,"_birdpress_hero_toggle":false,"_birdpress_hero_type":"image","_birdpress_hero_image_type":"image","_birdpress_hero_style":"default","_birdpress_hero_ratio":"","_birdpress_hero_h1":"","_birdpress_hero_media_id":0,"_birdpress_hero_media_array_id":[],"_birdpress_hero_media_array":[],"_birdpress_hero_media":0,"_birdpress_hero_video_id":0,"_birdpress_hero_video":0,"_birdpress_hero_youtube":"","_birdpress_hero_content":true,"_birdpress_hero_byline":"","_birdpress_hero_byline_bottom":"","_birdpress_hero_button_link":"","_birdpress_hero_button_text":"","_birdpress_hero_button_color":"","_birdpress_hero_date":false,"original_guid":"","_birdpress_hide_search":false,"_birdpress_page_width":"","_birdpress_global_cta":false,"_birdpress_widget_sidebar":"","_birdpress_next_article":0,"_birdpress_next_article_title":"","_birdpress_prev_article":0,"_birdpress_prev_article_title":"","_birdpress_sub_navigation_id":0,"_birdpress_sub_navigation":"","_birdpress_sub_navigation_title":false,"_birdpress_anchor_navigation_id":0,"_birdpress_anchor_navigation":"","_birdpress_postType":"both","_birdpress_categoryID":0,"_birdpress_tagID":0,"_birdpress_parentPostID":0,"_birdpress_parentPostTitle":"","_birdpress_menuID":0,"_birdpress_menuName":"","_birdpress_listHeader":"","_birdpress_listLayout":"card-display","_birdpress_listColumns":"","_birdpress_maxItems":12,"_birdpress_listPaginate":true,"_birdpress_displaySort":true,"_birdpress_sortOrder":"DESC","_birdpress_sortBy":"date","_birdpress_listID":"","_birdpress_listClass":"","_birdpress_displayImages":true,"_birdpress_displayCaptions":false,"_birdpress_displayExcerpts":false,"_birdpress_attTop":"","_birdpress_attBottom":"","_birdpress_showLogos":false,"_birdpress_post_logo":0,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_topic":0,"wds_primary_content-format":0,"wds_primary_cornell-lab-project":0,"wds_primary_host-project":0,"wds_primary_read-more-tag":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topic":[998,1043],"content-format":[1055],"cornell-lab-project":[1069],"host-project":[],"read-more-tag":[],"class_list":["post-39973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","topic-news-and-features","topic-science-conservation-news-and-features","content-format-article","cornell-lab-project-living-bird-magazine"],"metadata":{"associated-posts":[""],"wpa_off":[""],"_edit_lock":["1671560552:2"],"_edit_last":["2"],"wdsi_message_id":[""],"wdsi_do_not_show":[""],"custom-byline":["<h5>By Marc Devokaitis<\/h5>"],"banner-video":[""],"banner-image":[""],"fallback-videobanner-image":[""],"original_guid":[""],"banner-text-style":["light"],"banner-style":["default"],"featured-image-display":["no"],"hide-from-search":["no"],"_birdpress_next_article":[""],"_birdpress_prev_article":[""],"_webdados_fb_open_graph_specific_image":[""],"_webdados_fb_open_graph_specific_description":[""],"_thumbnail_id":["39977"],"_wp_old_date":["2019-06-13"],"_wds_meta-robots-adv":[","],"_wds_trimmed_excerpt":["Around the world there are several pairs of woodpeckers that look alike but aren\u2019t closely related. Cornell Lab researcher Eliot Miller suggests the mechanism is plumage mimicry\u2014one species evolving to look like another in order to gain some benefit. For example, smaller woodpeckers may be evolv ..."],"_birdpress_hero_transcript":[""],"_wds_meta-robots-nofollow":[""],"_wds_meta-robots-noindex":[""]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39973"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=39973"},{"taxonomy":"content-format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-format?post=39973"},{"taxonomy":"cornell-lab-project","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cornell-lab-project?post=39973"},{"taxonomy":"host-project","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/host-project?post=39973"},{"taxonomy":"read-more-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/read-more-tag?post=39973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}