Photos

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Male Downy Woodpecker Photo taken by Pete Brown on February 6. 2005 in Gambrills, MD. Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ-10 at full zoom.

Male Downy Woodpecker Photo taken by Pete Brown on February 6. 2005 in Gambrills, MD. Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ-10 at full zoom.

Female Downy Woodpecker Photo taken by Pete Brown on February 6. 2005 in Gambrills, MD. Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ-10 at full zoom.

Female Downy Woodpecker Photo taken by Pete Brown on February 6. 2005 in Gambrills, MD. Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ-10 at full zoom.

Downy and Hairy Comparison The Downy is the smaller woodpecker on the left, the Hairy is on the right.Photos taken by Pete Brown on January 21, 2005 in Gambrills, MD. Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ-10 at full zoom.

Birding Information

The Downy Woodpecker is our most frequent woodpecker visitor. We have a large number of these friendly little birds in the woods around our house. The suet Melissa hangs on the tree, in the suet cage, and in the upside down suet feeder do a very good job of attracting these birds.

If you proceed slowly, cautiously and without eye contact, the Downy will typically allow you to get reasonably close (10' or so) for a photograph.

General Information

• Length: 6 3/4 to 7 inches
• Wingspan 11 to 12 inches
• Family: Picidae

Identification (Male)

• White Face
• Short stubby black bill,shorter than depth of head
• White underparts
• Black whings with white spotting
• White back
• Black nape and shoulders
• Three outermost tail feathers of black tail are white with dark spots of bars
• Red occipital patch (back of head)

Identification (Female)

• The female is similar to the male except that it is missing the red occipital patch (back of the head).

Identification and size information from Birds of North America Eastern Region by Fred J. Alsop III, 2001 DK Publishing. I highly recommend this book as there is a lot more information than I present here.

This bird can be easily confused with the Hairy woodpecker when viewed from a distance. The hairy is two to three inches larger, and has a black bill that is almost as long as the head is deep. The bill is the easiest way to tell the birds apart, as a few inches in scale can be easily lost in poor lighting or through binoculars.

Additional References

• eNature
• USCGS

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