Eurasian Wryneck
Jynx torquilla
Also known as: Wryneck, European Wryneck, Northern Wryneck
Habitat
Ground
Diet
Invertebrate
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
35 g
About This Species
Look for it in open woodland edges, orchards and scrubby grassland across Europe and Asia, where it feeds almost entirely on ants taken from the ground with its long sticky tongue rather than by drilling wood like other woodpeckers. Its odd, snake-like neck-twisting display and harsh, repeated call are the best clues to locating a well-camouflaged bird, most easily found during spring passage or the breeding season.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- A widespread species with no special access restrictions beyond general disturbance rules; avoid approaching too closely to feeding or nesting birds and give extra space to any using a nest hole, since most of its range protects breeding birds under general wildlife law.
- Watching quietly from a distance with binoculars is usually enough to get good views without causing it to abandon a feeding site.
LCAvesPiciformesPicidae
Seasonal Activity
447,846 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Picidae
Traits
- Diet
- Invertebrate
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 35 g
Photo
(c) Happy The Monk Singh, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Happy The Monk Singh
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.