Nature: Woodpeckers: The Hole Story

Take a closer look at what makes woodpeckers so special

• Christina Zeiders
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Christina Zeiders is the Communications Specialist at WITF. She helps get the word out about all of WITF's programs, events and community conversations.

Nature: Woodpeckers: The Hole Story takes us deep into the woods to explore and discover the lives of a unique avian family – the woodpeckers.

There are 239 species of woodpeckers, and they live on every continent except Antarctica and Australia. They play a powerful role in every ecosystem they inhabit, come in all shapes and sizes, and each species is uniquely engineered for their particular lifestyles.

Filmmaker Ann Johnson Prum (Nature: Super Hummingbirds) pecks away at what makes these birds so special through the intimate stories of woodpecker families across the world. Paul Giamatti narrates the special.

The show features several woodpecker species – including the large and elusive black woodpeckers in Poland and the Gila woodpeckers who make their home in cacti in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. You’ll find out about their favorite food sources, how they talk to each other by drumming, and how they carve out their homes.

Watch Nature: Woodpeckers: The Hole Story on WITF TV or the PBS Video app Wednesday, November 2 at 8pm, or stream it on-demand through the PBS Video app after its television premiere. The special will be free to stream until December 1.