The wrynecks are a small but distinctive group of small old world woodpeckers. jynx is from the ancient greek iunx, the eurasian wryneck. like the true woodpeckers, wrynecks have large heads, long tongues which they use to extract their insect prey and zygodactyl feet, with two toes pointing forward, and two backwards. however, they lack the stiff tail feathers that the true woodpeckers use when climbing trees, so they are more likely than their relatives to perch on a branch rather than an upright trunk.
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