Bird of the Month: Downy Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker. Photo by Jeff Bryant.
By Roger Digges, CCAS Vice-President
This month’s bird is one that you can find anywhere in the United States, except the Southwest, and anywhere in Canada, except the far north. It is a bird that is usually easy to find if you spend enough time around trees and, even better, is very easy to attract to your yard so long as there are trees relatively close, and you provide appropriate food.
The Downy Woodpecker is the smallest member of its family in North America, a little larger than a sparrow. You can hear their short descending staccato call or their sharp “pik” as they forage for insects inside wood or tree bark. Like most woodpeckers, they have an undulating flight pattern and tend to cling upright in trees or stems, bracing against them with their stiff tail feathers. Downies have a black and white striped head, white underparts and back, and black on the upper part of its wings, which are marked with white spots further down. Like many birds, this woodpecker is somewhat sexually dimorphic. The male has a bright red spot on the nape of its head, which the female lacks that spot.
Before we look at Downy Woodpeckers’ nesting habits and how to attract them to your yard, I should tell you that, like last month’s Cooper’s Hawk, this bird has a look-alike. Only unlike the Sharp-shinned Hawk, which was smaller than the Cooper’s, the Hairy Woodpecker is larger than the downy, about half again as big. This may not help you with separating the two, as it’s hard to compare the size of birds when they are some distance away. While there are subtle differences, I use the relative length of the beak as a good marker. The beak of a Downy Woodpecker is relatively small; it is considerably shorter than the distance between the base of its beak and the back of its head. The hairy has a longer, narrower bill, about as long as the distance between the base and the back of the hairy’s head. Since downies are much more common than hairies, I usually assume the black and white woodpecker I see is a downy, unless it looks large or its bill seems huge.
When it’s nesting time, both male and female spend 1 to 3 weeks excavating a round hole about 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter and 6 to 12 inches deep at the entrance and that widens further down to make room for the incubating birds and their eggs. Male and female take turns on the nest for around 2 weeks after the female lays 3 to 8 white eggs. They also take turns feeding the nestlings in the nearly 3 weeks it takes their young to be able to fly and begin to forage for themselves.
Downy Woodpeckers are attracted to feeders that provide them suet or black oil sunflower seeds. Planting trees or large shrubs in your yard allows them to forage for their own food. Like all woodpeckers, downies are not songbirds, although both sexes make their rapid whinnying call during the breeding season. Like most woodpeckers, they “drum” on any resonating surface, a tree, a utility pole, wooden shingles, or even metal flashing. To prevent them from damaging your house, you can hang something flashy or noisy like wind chimes, pinwheels, or reflective streamers. You can cover their favorite area with bird netting. In the nearly 40 years I’ve been feeding birds, I’ve never had a problem with woodpeckers, but I know a few people who have.
Partners in Flight estimate that there are 13 million Downy Woodpeckers in North America. The North America Breeding Bird Census shows that their numbers are stable. So, put out some suet or black oil sunflower seed and enjoy this energetic little woodpecker. Or go for a walk in a woodland.