I would like to verify this information before I pass it on to others. Von Peterson, National City, California. The magazine article you sent makes me wince. If woodpeckers created sonic booms, then all pecking would sound the same. Woodpecker sounds vary by the material on which the birds peck.
Metal produces a very different sound from that of wood.
We recognize the difference because what we hear is a percussive sound, not a sonic boom. For verification, I called Brian Jones, a physicist who coordinates physics labs at Colorado State University. He ran a few quick numbers for us. Accelerating from zero to the speed of sound in that distance would create 54,000 Gs. Brian and I agree that no woodpecker could survive such force.