![]() ![]() The drumming of a hairy woodpecker is fast, almost a buzz. The hairy woodpecker is over 9 inches long - robin-sized. The best way to distinguish them is by their size and their drumming. These and their larger cousin the hairy woodpecker are quite common and difficult to tell apart - both have black and white markings, and the males of both species have a bright red patch on the back of their heads, while the females do not. There are three possible sources of this drumming: the tiny downy, the slightly larger hairy and the giant pileated woodpeckers all remain in the north year-round.ĭowny woodpeckers are our smallest woodpecker. This is a classic sound of winter like the clear, high call of a chickadee, that sharp drumming stands out. ![]() Just this past week, I've awoken to the distinct sound of a woodpecker rapping against trees. ![]() This article was originally published in the Edgewood Explorer, December 2002, as part of an article about all of the woodpeckers that can be seen at Edgewood.On crisp winter days, when the snow has glazed over into a hard crust and instead of muffling sound seems to clarify it, bird calls come clear and sharp as they skitter over the icy surfaces and pierce the cold stillness. This guide includes a number of sounds.ĭowny Woodpecker in the Audubon Field Guide.īy Lee Franks. Birds of San Francisco and the Bay Area.ĭowny Woodpecker at All About Birds. Examples of these calls can be found here. Excited birds also give a very sharp pik note, which may be repeated several times. ![]() The whinnying call is a string of high-pitched notes that descend in pitch toward the end the call lasts about 2 seconds. These calls are made by both sexes, and can be heard during the breeding season. In addition to the characteristics used to identify the Downy Woodpecker, here are some fascinating facts about woodpecker behavior, anatomy, and feeding habits that are shared by all of the woodpecker species found at Edgewood.Īs well as the sound of their drumming, Downy Woodpeckers have a pik and a whinnying call. It requires quite a bit of work for both birds, over a week or more, to carve a gourd-shaped cavity, into which the female lays 4 to 5 pure white eggs that both parents incubate for 12 days until they hatch. Both sexes drum.Īfter the drumming unites the pair, courtship begins, resulting in a bonding of the pair and excavation of a cavity in a living or dead tree as high as 50 feet above the ground. It is also the first attempt to attract a mate. This tapping, known as drumming, is no longer simply an effort to get food, but a means of communication to other Downies that this is “my” territory. For one thing, their tapping becomes a quite different unbroken trrrrrrrrr lasting several seconds. It is usually alone, as they don’t associate with their own kind until spring.Īs spring approaches, the Downies with their black and white-striped head, black upperparts with white in center of back and white spots on their wings, change their behavior toward each other. Often it will be the Downy Woodpecker ( picoides pubescens), the smallest woodpecker in North America (7 in.), and one of 5 woodpecker species present in the Park (the others are: Acorn Woodpecker, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, and Northern Flicker). We’re most aware of woodpeckers in the early winter months when the woods are pretty much silent except for a solitary tap, tap, tap. ![]()
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