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Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) |
Cool fact: Male and female Downy Woodpeckers use separate foraging strategies during the winter. Males tend to feed in the tops of trees on branches that are smaller in diameter, whereas females feed in midlevel and lower sections of the tree on branches that are larger in diameter. Males aggressively maintain this segregation by chasing away any bird that attempts to feed near them. Downy Woodpeckers are approximately 6.5 inches (16 centimeters) in length. A relatively small woodpecker with a short, chisel-shaped bill, Downy Woodpeckers have plumage that is a sharply contrasting pattern of blacks and whites. The Downy Woodpecker is the most common North American woodpecker, and also the woodpecker reported most frequently by Project FeederWatch participants. During the 1996-1997 Project FeederWatch season, more than 69 percent of the participants reported Downy Woodpeckers, making them the fourth most common Project FeederWatch bird. Description: Downy Woodpeckers have a black forehead and crown; males have a red patch on their nape (see drawing below), whereas females have a white patch on their nape. A wide white supercilium with a broad black band extends through the eye to the ear coverts, then down the neck. The lores, beneath the eye, and the sides of the neck are white. The black moustachial stripe extends to the neck. The chin, throat, and undersides are white. The lower neck, sides of the mantle, rump, and uppertail coverts are black. The back is almost entirely white. The upper coverts and flight feathers are black with large white spots. Variation exists in the extent of these white spots on the wing: Pacific Northwest, southwestern, and southern races show little white on the wings. The upper tail feathers are black, with all but the central feathers having white tips, which increase in amount toward the outertail. The typically prominent black bars on the white outer tail feathers vary in size. The undertail coverts are white with black spots. The Downy Woodpecker breeds over a widespread area encompassing most of North America, except for the extreme Southwest and areas below treeline. Six recognized races of Downy Woodpeckers exist. Fun Facts:
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