Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species (including the famous ivory-billed).Woodpeckers gained their English name because of the habit of some species of tapping and pecking noisily on tree trunks with their beaks. This is both a means of communication to signal possession of territory to their rivals, and a method of locating and accessing insect larvae found under the bark or in long winding tunnels in the tree.