Laughing is good for the soul, they say. And, that good poet Robert Frost was always saying things. He noted, in fact:
“If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.”
Ah, he may have something there.
Yet, I would say that most people like to laugh. And we seek out sources to find laughter. This starts at an early age with cartoons.
So today, it is fitting to mention that this is the birthday of Walter Lantz, a famous cartoonist, born April 27, 1900.
His most famous character was probably Woody Woodpecker. His full name was actually Woodrow “Woody “Woodpecker. But Walter Lantz didn’t end at Woody. He came up with plenty of others in both cartoons and comics. They include Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Andy Panda, The Beary Family, Maggie & Sam, Maw and Paw, Space Mouse, Inspector Willoughby, Homer Pigeon, Chilly Willy, Lil’ Eightball, Charlie Chicken, Cartune, Wally Walrus, and many more.
Woody has a niece and nephew, although I don’t remember them. They are named Knothead and Splinter, respectively. His girlfriend is Winnie Woodpecker, and I don’t remember her either.
While it was not one of my favorite shows, I do remember mimicking the “Woody Woodpecker” song randomly, at times throughout my young life.
As a child, I don’t think I associated him with a real bird. Nor Bugs, a rabbit. Or Porky, a pig. Or even Daffy, a duck. We didn’t have animals around. We didn’t see rabbits, or pigs, or ducks. Not often, at least. Or if we would, it always happened on some field trip or special outing to some zoo. They felt like things in museums and not in real life.
So Woody was merely a character on the TV screen, like so many before or after him.
But in real life, woodpeckers are interesting creatures with very specialized skills. There’s no telling how many are flying around right now in the skies above our planet. But there are 239 species of them. Here at my home now, I see around seven different species. They are the
Downy
Hairy
Red-bellied
Red-headed
Pileated
Flicker
Yellow-bellied sapsucker (rarely)
I think the Flickers are my favorite, for no good reason at all.
Nonetheless, they all share a lot in common. For one, they have super long tongues, so they can reach for insects inside the holes they peck out. And their tongues are sticky, so once they reach the hiding insect, they can zap them out.
The next item is so important for the woodpecker. They don’t get headaches.
They are designed that way. Their bills are made to absorb the shock. They have thick skulls. And there is a little bone in their heads called the hyoid bone. This special bone is unique to woodpeckers, and it wraps around their entire skull inside their heads, adding a sort of shock protection. It keeps them from getting “headaches” or injury.
And, you may or may not have noticed, but woodpeckers don’t peck at night. They turn in early to watch TV, most likely. Probably not the Woody Woodpecker show.
I said there were 239 species. But no one seems to agree on just how many species there are. Some say 200. Brittanica.com says that 210. The International Ornithological Society reports 236. At the same time, other sources say, as many as 300 exist. Peck your favorite number.
And then there is us. When we turn into woodpeckers. If you are like me, it sometimes feels like I am butting my head against a wall when it comes to certain trends in our society, especially along the lines of human rights, women’s rights, book burning, racist concepts in educating our children, discriminatory behavior in those same schools, gun laws, and the general notion of white supremacy. Bashing my head against any tree I can find, when I hear these things.
If I were truly like a woodpecker, all the knocking of my head would serve a purpose. But in truth, it does not. Just a manifestation of absolute frustration.
I need a hyoid bone.
Until then, I will take Robert Frost’s advice once again.
“If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.”
Though, none of it seems a bit funny to me.
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“He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.”
― Rafael Sabatini, Scaramouche
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“There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.”
― Erma Bombeck
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“The child’s laughter is pure until he first laughs at a clown.”
― Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus
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