The Eurasian wryneck or northern wryneck (Jynx torquilla) is a species of wryneck in the woodpecker family. It mainly breeds in temperate regions of Europe and Asia. Most populations are migratory, wintering in tropical Africa and in southern Asia from Iran to the Indian subcontinent, but some are resident in northwestern Africa. It is a bird of open countryside, woodland and orchards.
Eurasian wrynecks measure about in length and have bills shorter and less dagger-like than those of other woodpeckers. Their upperparts are barred and mottled in shades of pale brown with rufous and blackish bars and wider black streaks. Their underparts are cream speckled and spotted with brown. Their chief prey is ants and other insects, which they find in decaying wood or on the ground. The eggs are white as is the case with many birds that nest in holes and a clutch of seven to ten eggs is laid during May and June.
These birds get their English name from their ability to turn their heads through almost 180 degrees. When disturbed at the nest, they use this snake-like head twisting and hissing as a threat display.
Taxonomy and etymology
The Eurasian wryneck was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae in 1758. The type specimen came from Sweden. The bird was used as a charm to bring back an errant lover, the bird being tied to a piece of string and whirled around.
The family Picidae has four subfamilies, the Picinae (woodpeckers), the Picumninae (piculets), the Jynginae (wrynecks) and the monotypic Nesoctitinae (Antillean piculet). Based on morphology and behaviour, the Picumninae was considered to be the sister clade of the Picinae. This has now been confirmed by phylogenetic analysis and the Jynginae are placed basal to the Picinae, Nesoctitinae and Picumninae.
Subspecies
Six subspecies are currently accepted:
- Jynx torquilla torquilla Linnaeus, 1758 — most of Europe (except for areas occupied by J. t. tschusii), south to Turkey and the Caucasus, wintering in tropical Africa and India
- Jynx torquilla sarudnyi Loudon, 1912 — central & western Siberia, from the Urals east to the Yenisei, wintering in southern Asia
- Jynx torquilla chinensis Hesse, 1911 — eastern Siberia to Sakhalin and Hokkaido, south to northern China and Mongolia, wintering in southern Asia
- Jynx torquilla himalayana Vaurie, 1959 — northwestern Himalaya, wintering in India
- Jynx torquilla tschusii O. Kleinschmidt, 1907 — Italy, Sardinia, Corsica, and eastern Adriatic coast; wintering in tropical Africa
- Jynx torquilla mauretanica Rothschild, 1909 — northwestern Africa; non-migratory resident
Description
left|thumb|In Norway
The Eurasian wryneck is in length. The nominate subspecies weighs , and subspecies Jynx torquilla tschusii weighs . It is a slim, elongated-looking bird with a body shape more like a thrush than a woodpecker. The upperparts are barred and mottled in shades of pale brown with rufous and blackish bars and wider black streaks. The rump and upper tail coverts are grey with speckles and irregular bands of brown. The rounded tail is grey, speckled with brown, with faint bands of greyish-brown and a few more clearly defined bands of brownish-black. The cheeks and throat are buff barred with brown. The underparts are creamy white with brown markings shaped like arrow-heads which are reduced to spots on the lower breast and belly. The flanks are buff with similar markings and the under-tail coverts are buff with narrow brown bars. The primaries and secondaries are brown with rufous-buff markings. The beak is brown, long and slender with a broad base and sharp tip. The irises are hazel and the slender legs and feet are pale brown. The first and second toes are shorter than the others. The first and fourth toes point backwards and the second and third point forwards, a good arrangement for clinging to vertical surfaces. Eurasian wrynecks also inhabit the island of Sakhalin, Japan and the coastal areas of southern China. The species has been observed as a vagrant in the Bering Sea islands of Alaska.
The Eurasian wryneck is the only European woodpecker to undertake long-distance migration. The wintering area of European species is located south of the Sahara, in a wide strip across Africa extending from Senegal, Gambia and Sierra Leone in the west to Ethiopia in the east. Its southern limit extends to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon. The populations from West Asia use the same wintering areas. The Central and East Asian breeding birds winter in the Indian subcontinent or southern East Asia including southern Japan. Territories are not chosen at random as arriving birds favoured certain areas over others with the same territories being colonised first year after year. The presence of other Eurasian wrynecks in the vicinity is also a positive influence. Orchards in general, and older ones in particular, provide favoured territories, probably because the dense foliage is more likely to support high numbers of aphids and the ground beneath has scant vegetation cover, both of which factors increase the availability of ants, the birds' main prey. Despite some territories being consistently chosen over others, reproductive success in these territories was no higher than in others. Limiting factors for such crevice-nesting species as Eurasian wrynecks are both the availability of nesting sites and the number of ants and their ease of discovery. Modern farming practices such as the removal of hedges, forest patches and isolated trees and the increasing use of fertilisers and pesticides are disadvantageous to such birds.
The diet consists chiefly of ants but beetles and their larvae, moths, spiders and woodlice are also eaten. Although much time is spent in the upper branches of trees, the bird sometimes perches in low bushes and mostly forages on the ground, moving around with short hops with its tail held in a raised position. It can cling to tree trunks, often moving obliquely, and sometimes pressing its tail against the surface as a prop. It does not make holes in bark with its beak but picks up prey with a rapid extension and retraction of its tongue and it sometimes catches insects while on the wing. Its flight is rather slow and undulating. It uses no nesting material, and a clutch of normally seven to ten eggs is laid (occasionally five, six, eleven or twelve). The eggs average and weigh about . They are a dull white colour and partially opaque. Both sexes are involved in incubation, which takes twelve days, but the female plays the greater part. Both parents feed the chicks for about twenty days before they fledge. There is usually a single brood. In the United Kingdom the numbers of bird are on the decrease and it is protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and is listed on Appendix II of the Bern Convention. It is protected as a migratory species under the Birds Directive in the European Union. In Switzerland, the population has also been decreasing, but the species has reacted positively to conservation measures such as the addition of nestboxes in suitable habitats.