THE WRYNECK

Biology, Behaviour, Conservation and

Symbolism of Jynx torquilla

GERARD GORMAN

PELAGIC PUBLISHING
Contents

About the author  ix

Acknowledgements  x
Preface  xii

1. Origins and Taxonomy  1

2. Anatomy and Morphology  7
3. Description and Identification  13
4. Moult, Ageing and Sexing  22
5. The Red-throated Wryneck  35
6. Communication  45
7. Distribution, Trends and Status  55
8. Habitats  71
9. Challenges and Conservation  80
10. Behaviour  91
11. Flight, Movements and Migration  103
12. Breeding  116
13. Cavities  132
14. Foraging and Food  142
15. Relationships  155
16. Folklore, Mythology and Symbolism  163

References  177
Index  193
Chapter 3

Description and Identification

Wrynecks are often referred to as atypical woodpeckers. They are regarded as

unusual because, in terms of their structure – being slim with a relatively small
head, a fine bill and a long tail that is fan-shaped and more or less rounded
at the tip – they do not resemble the typical woodpeckers that everyone
recognises, and which make up the subfamily Picinae (see Chapter 1).

FIGURE 3.1  Perched Wrynecks often have a songbird-like jizz. April 2020, Jihlava,
Czech Republic (AT).
14  THE WRYNECK

Jizz
These birds are often seen on the ground where they forage inconspicu-
ously on short-grass and stony areas, among tussocks and at terrestrial ant
nests. They typically hop in jerky movements, often with their tail slightly
cocked. When in trees, they are usually more sluggish in their movements
and they tend to perch crosswise on branches in the manner of songbirds.
Unlike most woodpeckers, they seldom shuffle along boughs or cling to the
sides of tree trunks, and only sporadically use their tail to support themselves.
They usually fly low to the ground, the flight pattern being fairly direct and
straight, although they may swoop and briefly close their wings. With their
long tail obvious, they can appear more like a small thrush, shrike or large
warbler. Upon landing, they occasionally flick their wings briefly. When alert
they will sometimes adopt a stretched-out posture, and when alarmed they
raise their crown feathers into a ‘punk’ crest. When observed in these postures
Wrynecks are often described as being ‘reptilian’ (Gorman 2004).

Similar species
In most situations Wrynecks are unmistakable. Realistically, they cannot be
mistaken for any other woodpecker except their close relative the Red-throated
Wryneck, with which they co-occur in parts of Africa in winter. In breeding
areas in Europe and Asia, they are more likely to be confused with a songbird.
In some situations, such as when a Wryneck darts from one bush to another,
it might be mistaken for a female or juvenile Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio
or Barred Warbler Sylvia nisoria owing to their similar size and proportions.
The plumage patterns of both wryneck species, with cryptic browns, greys,
black and white in the colouration, are often compared to those of nightjars
(Caprimulgidae) and the plumage has even been described as ‘caprimulgi-
formlike’ (Short 1982), but wrynecks cannot really be confused with that
family owing to the relative sizes, structures and entirely different behaviours
of the two.

Measurements
The following biometric figures are for adult Wrynecks. They are based on
Cramp (1985), Glutz and Bauer (1994), Baker (2016), Demongin (2016),
and measurements taken by the author in museum collections in Europe.
Measurements from male and female Wrynecks are combined, as sexual
 Description and Identification  15

differences are slight and the sex of specimens was not always accurately
documented. Figures for subspecies also are combined, as samples were small
and, in some cases, the subspecific identification was uncertain.

FIGURE 3.2  Body lengths vary greatly as can be seen from these two adult specimens
in the Budapest Natural History Museum, Hungary (GG). Both of these birds were
collected at the same site (Ohat, Hungary) in spring, the shorter bird on 26 April 1959
and the longer on 1 May 1957. The longer is 195 mm long, from bill-tip to tail-tip, and
the shorter 150 mm – a considerable difference of 45 mm.
16  THE WRYNECK

• Overall length from bill-tip to tail-tip: 150–195 mm. There can be signif-

icant differences in the lengths of individuals, with the tail around a third
of overall length.

• Tail length: rather variable, 50–70 mm.

• Wing length: rather variable, 75–94 mm.

• Wingspan: rather variable, 250–270 mm.

• Bill length, from forehead to tip: variable, 14–17.5 mm.

• Tarsus: fairly constant, 18–21 mm.

Plumage
Though subtly well marked, both sexes can, from brief or distant views,
appear uniformly brownish-greyish with few obviously distinguishing features.
Wrynecks are cryptically patterned with an intricate mosaic of brown, fawn,
grey, black, yellow and buff streaking, barring and mottling, from the crown to
the rump and tail. This sometimes described as a ‘tree-bark pattern’ (although
this is misleading as wrynecks of both species spend much of their time on the

FIGURE 3.3  Adult Wryneck. April 2010, Norfolk, England (NeB).

 Description and Identification  17

FIGURE 3.4  These two examples of adult Wrynecks, in the collection of the Budapest
Natural History Museum, Hungary, illustrate the variation that can occur in uppertail
barring (GG). One has two distinct, dark bars, one has two undefined bars.

ground rather than against tree bark). Many feathers have pale tips, but these
are not always noticeable in the field. A blackish-brown band runs from the
crown over the nape and mantle, between the scapulars, and down the back.
This band often widens into a diamond-shape on the mantle. The scapulars
have pale edges and dark centres. The sides of the neck are grey as are two
‘braces’ on the mantle. The lower back and rump are lightly barred with
brown. The tail has several (often four) widely spaced dark bands, although
some may be faint or broken and the innermost band may be hidden by the
uppertail-coverts. The undertail-coverts are creamy white and lightly marked
with black flecks.
The crown is finely barred with black and edged with dark brown. A broad
brown stripe runs over the eye, across the ear-coverts and down on to the side
of the neck. Some individuals show a faint, pale malar (moustachial) stripe,
which is thinly barred with black. The cheeks, throat, neck and chest are
yellowish-sandy, finely barred with brown. The breast and flanks are cream,
marked with dark flecks and arrowhead and chevron shapes. The more vivid
colour of the throat and chest may merge with the paler breast, or the two
18  THE WRYNECK

areas can be well demarcated. The belly and ventral area are cream or white
and much less marked, often plain. The wings are mainly brown with the
darker flight feathers marked with rufous and buff spots.

Bare parts
The bill is horn-grey, sometimes brownish, relatively short with a fine, pointed
tip and a curved culmen, and is narrow across the nostrils. Unlike the bills of
other woodpeckers, it is smooth and lacks ridges and grooves. The tongue is
pink. The irides of adults are chestnut in colour, those of juveniles greyer and
those of nestlings all dark (pers. obs.). Second-year individuals usually have
transitionally coloured irides, reddish but greyer/browner at the outer edges
(Baker 2016). Wrynecks have short legs and their four-toed feet are greyish-
brown, sometimes with a greenish tinge.

The sexes
Wrynecks are not sexually dimorphic. Indeed, males and females appear
virtually identical (monomorphic) and are usually inseparable in the field.

Males: In the breeding season, adult males are generally a brighter, richer yellow,
even ochre, on the throat and chest, compared with females. This is, however,
rather variable and noticeable only in some pairs and is therefore ultimately
unreliable as a diagnostic sexual-identification feature (Gorman 2004).

FIGURE 3.5  Adults have chestnut- FIGURE 3.6  First-winter and

coloured irides. September 2014, Spurn, second-calendar birds have grey
Yorkshire, England (CG). irides. September 2018, Bourgas,
Bulgaria (GG).
 Description and Identification  19

Females: In addition to having the yellow areas of their plumage sometimes
less vivid, females are also slightly smaller than males. Perhaps unsurprisingly,
this, too, is noticeable only when the two members of a breeding pair are seen
together and, in many cases, is not obvious at all.

Juveniles and immature birds

Young Wrynecks look much like adults although they tend to have more white
barring on the crown, brown areas are duller, the throat is greyer, the rump
is cream-coloured and the tertials are rustier. There is also a white spot near
the tip of each tertial (in adults these are cinnamon in colour) but these are
difficult to observe in the field. They are also much less streaked and barred
below than adults, and the markings on their throat, chest and flanks are paler,

FIGURE 3.7  A juvenile a few weeks after fledgling. July 2015, Pescasseroli, Italy (PH).
20  THE WRYNECK

greyish rather than blackish. They typically lack chevrons on the underparts
and have fewer but bolder black bars on the tail. Structurally, they also appear
more compact than adults as they have a shorter tail and more rounded wings,
and their outer primary is longer (Gorman 2004).

Subspecies identification
Separating the various subspecies in the field on the basis of plumage is all
but impossible, despite the literature often detailing differences. In addition
to all subspecies being essentially similar in appearance, there are also clinal
and individual variations in size to consider. One study found that the wings
of birds in central Europe tend to be longer and more pointed and tails shorter
than birds in south-west Europe, although all were the nominate torquilla; the
same trend was noted for birds in East Asia compared with those in Central
Asia (Eck and Geidel 1974). In practice, subspecific differences are likely to be

FIGURE 3.8  Adult tschusii. June 2020, Modena, Italy (ET). Truth be told, the various
subspecies are exceedingly difficult to separate in the field.
 Description and Identification  21

detectable only by examining a series of museum skins of birds of the same

age and season. Nevertheless, the following distinctions are usually described.
Subspecies tschusii is similar to the nominate but darker overall, particularly
on the tail and the stripe down the upperparts; this stripe usually runs from
the central crown to the mantle on torquilla, but on tschusii it may start from
the forecrown and is often bolder. On tschusii, the throat, chest and upper
breast are more heavily barred with black-brown and the black flecks on
the mantle, scapulars and crown are also bolder and broader; there is more
barring on the undertail-coverts and vent and the flanks have fewer chevrons,
being barred rather than scaled. The wings of tschusii are on average slightly
shorter and more rounded. Form mauretanica is said to be smaller than the
nominate, darker above, creamier on the throat and chest, and less marked
overall; himalayana is apparently more heavily and extensively barred below;
sarudnyi is described as plainer and greyer above, whiter and less marked
below, and paler on the throat; chinensis is said to be darker, heavily barred
and smaller than European birds; japonica is claimed to be somewhat rufous
and more barred than torquilla, but it should be noted that it is not unusual
to find reddish individuals in Europe (Winkler et al. 1995; Gorman 2014).

Hybrids and aberrants

There seems not to be any verified record of Wrynecks interbreeding with other
bird species. A possible J. torquilla × ruficollis hybrid reported from Cameroon
(Desfayes 1969) was later judged to have been an aberrant Red-throated
Wryneck (Short and Bock 1972).