Page 43 - NT Birds of a Feather

Their quick beak movements cause small pieces of wood to fly into the woodpecker’s face but small feathers carefully cover their nostrils. Woodpeckers also have extra tissue between their beak and their skull so that their brains are not injured by hitting their beaks on hard surfaces.
Listening out for the sound of a woodpecker drumming is a great way to discover that one is close by, but their loud habit is also connected to ancient mythology. In Norse stories, the woodpecker is connected to Thor, the god of thunder, lightning and war. The noise of the woodpecker’s drumming on wood can sound like thunder, and the holes that they drill to make their nests in can look like the holes that lightning can make when it hits a tree.