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Downy Woodpeckers are small versions of the classic woodpecker body plan. They have a straight, chisel-like bill, blocky head, wide shoulders, and straight-backed posture as they lean away from tree limbs and onto their tail feathers.
The active little Downy Woodpecker is a familiar sight at backyard feeders and in parks and woodlots, where it joins flocks of chickadees and nuthatches, barely outsizing them. An often acrobatic forager, this black-and-white woodpecker is at home on tiny branches or balancing on slender plant galls, sycamore seed balls, and suet feeders.
Downy Woodpecker. At a Glance. The smallest woodpecker in North America, common and widespread, although it avoids the arid southwest. In the east this is the most familiar member of the family, readily entering towns and city parks, coming to backyard bird feeders.
The downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) is a species of woodpecker, the smallest in North America. Length ranges from 14 to 18 cm (5.5 to 7.1 in). Downy woodpeckers primarily live in forested areas throughout the United States and Canada, with the exception of deserts in the southwest and the northern tundra.
Downy Woodpeckers are small woodpeckers with short, straight bills and contrasting black and white plumage. They are pure white to grayish brown below and on their back. Their wings are black, with numerous small white spots, and their head is boldly striped in black and white.
The Downy Woodpecker's black bill is smaller and finer-tipped than that of other North American woodpeckers — more forceps than chisel — allowing this species to pierce shallow insect tunnels and plant galls, and pick tiny insects and eggs from leaves and stems.
An active woodpecker that moves quickly over tree trunks, branches, and stems of grasses and wildflowers, characteristically leaning against its stiffened tail feathers for support. Downy Woodpeckers move horizontally and downwards on trees much more readily than most other woodpeckers.
Tiny woodpecker, common and widespread across much of North America. Black-and-white plumage is nearly identical to the larger Hairy Woodpecker. Focus on the bill: Downy has a very short bill, much shorter than the length of the head.
The Downy Woodpecker eats food that larger woodpeckers cannot reach, such as insects in the stems of weeds. How they sound: Downy Woodpeckers give off a high-pitched piknote followed by a descending whinny call. Although they don’t sing songs, they drum loudly against pieces of wood or metal to achieve the same effect.
Feb 13, 2015 · Both Hairy and the Downy Woodpeckers, unfortunately. It’s easy to find these woodpeckers out in the woods (just like you find shorebirds on the shore), but an early identification challenge for new birders is distinguishing between these two common species.
