Downy Woodpecker

Picoides pubescensOrder: PICIFORMESFamily: Woodpeckers (Picidae)

General

Downy Woodpecker: Small woodpecker with black-and-white upperparts and white underparts. Hindcrown patch is red. Tail is black with black-spotted white outer tail feathers. Female and juvenile are similar but without red patch on head.

Range and Habitat

Downy Woodpecker: Resident from Alaska across Canada and south throughout the U.S. except in the southwest. Preferred habitats include woodlands, parks, and gardens.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"pik"

Interesting Facts

The Downy Woodpecker uses sources of food that larger woodpeckers cannot, such as the insect fauna on weed stems.

As the smallest North American woodpecker, the Downy can drill cavities in dead trees or limbs that measure as little as 10 cm around. This means that it can live in a wider range of habitat than can larger woodpeckers.

Males tend to feed in the tops of trees on branches that are small in diameter, females feed midlevel and lower on larger diameter branches.

A group of woodpeckers has many collective nouns, including a "descent", "drumming", and "gatling" of woodpeckers.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker: The smallest woodpecker in North America. Has a white back, black nape and black wings with white spotting. Underparts are white. Face is white with black stripes. Hindcrown patch is red. Tail is black with black-spotted or barred white outer tail feathers. Bill is black and short.

● Song: "pik"

● Foraging & Feeding: Downy Woodpecker: Diet consists of insects and seeds; male forages higher in tree than female; feeds on suet at feeders.

● Breeding & nesting: Downy Woodpecker: Three to seven white eggs are laid in a bare hole in a tree. Eggs are incubated for approximately 12 days by both parents.

● Similar species: Downy Woodpecker: Hairy Woodpecker is larger, has a longer bill, and lacks spots or bars.

Flight Pattern

Rapidly beating wings., Undulating flight.

● Range & Habitat: Downy Woodpecker: Resident from Alaska across Canada and south throughout the U.S. except in the southwest. Preferred habitats include woodlands, parks, and gardens.

^BreedingMonogamous

^PopulationWidespread

^MigrationNonmigratory

^Weight1 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America