So, if our yard Downy pair is any indication of a few more Downy’s in our area, you may come across them. The bill of a Hairy Woodpecker is larger than the bill of a Downy Woodpecker. In researching a bit more, I found out that the Downy’s call is a “quiet, friendy ‘pic’” while a Hairy’s diagnostic “pic” call is stronger and louder, more like an attention-grabbing squeaky dog toy. The two woodpeckers side-by-side Hairy Downy Here are a few pointers to help you tell these two species apart: Look at the size of the bill. I was fortunate to have these male woodpeckers (red markings on the head) visit the same suet feeder within a few minutes of each other, letting me capture both birds with my camera. Male (eastern) Hairy Woodpeckers are larger than Downy Woodpeckers with a longer bill. It is darker, with its length equivalent, nearly, to the entire length of the head.Īnother key mark is to look at the outer tailfeathers, which are white with black spots on the Downy and plain white on the Hairy. Whereas the Hairy’s bill is an obvious power tool. A Downy’s bill is approximately the same length as the distance from the base of the bill to its eye. The Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus) on the bottom has a beak size thats a bit longer than the head behind it. A Downy’s bill is tiny at times when flitting around or pecking at suet, you can barely see it. In the above images, perhaps one of the easiest diagnostic markings is the size of the bill relative to the bird’s length of the head. A Hairy is medium-sized, averaging 9” in length (think of a Townsend’s Solitaire or a slender American Robin) and a Downy is more like our Western Bluebird, averaging about 6” in length. So let’s take a look!Īs you can see from these two comparison images, using the suet cage as a marker, the Hairy Woodpecker is approximately 50% larger than a Downy. Belonging to the Picidae family, with an estimated global breeding population. It just so happened that one morning, both made an appearance at the same place at our suet feeder, and I was able to get photos of each. 4K 42K views 1 year ago A familiar sight at backyard feeders, the Downy is the smallest North American woodpecker.
I know this from a few diagnostic markers that scramble together in my brain, which spits out “it’s a Hairy!” However, lately, we’ve had a pair of Downy Woodpeckers regularly visiting our feeders, and I found myself stumbling on the specific differences of each when asked by my husband “which one is which?” I would say 99 times out of 100, the Hairy/Downy-looking woodpecker at our feeders will be a Hairy. For me it comes to the “jizz” (feel and look of the bird) than anything else. In the over four decades (ouch!) I’ve been a birder, I’ve gotten pretty good at calling a Hairy Woodpecker a Hairy Woodpecker and a Downy Woodpecker a Downy Woodpecker.
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