Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)
Description: Arguably the smallest of the
North American woodpeckers, it measures and average of only 5 inches from head
to tail. It has short beak used to forage for insects. The bird is completely
covered in black and white. Its head is black with two white stripes, while the
rest of the body is black checkered in small white squares. Males are more
colorful than females, having a bright red patch of feathers on their heads.
Habitat: Like the Pileated Woodpecker, the Downy Woodpecker can be found throughout much of the continental United States. It prefers deciduous forests that are open with small bushes and other ground cover. Like the Red Bellied Woodpecker, they have been known to frequent city parks and rural backyards. There have even been instances of them nesting inside the walls of deserted buildings.
Diet: The Downy Woodpeckers eat more fruits and nuts than other woodpeckers, but still rely on insects for the majority of their diet. While they will drill into trees to find ants and caterpillars, they also eat insects out of soft stemmed plats, using their relatively small beaks to pry into, for instance, the stems of goldenrod galls
Behaviors:
Miscellaneous:
Habitat: Like the Pileated Woodpecker, the Downy Woodpecker can be found throughout much of the continental United States. It prefers deciduous forests that are open with small bushes and other ground cover. Like the Red Bellied Woodpecker, they have been known to frequent city parks and rural backyards. There have even been instances of them nesting inside the walls of deserted buildings.
Diet: The Downy Woodpeckers eat more fruits and nuts than other woodpeckers, but still rely on insects for the majority of their diet. While they will drill into trees to find ants and caterpillars, they also eat insects out of soft stemmed plats, using their relatively small beaks to pry into, for instance, the stems of goldenrod galls
Behaviors:
- The most common behavior is drumming which is a often a mating call
- Birds drill their beaks against trees (or rain gutters and mail boxes) to create thumping noise used to attract females
- After mating the male establishes dominance and excludes the female from foraging
Miscellaneous:
- Unlike many birds Downy Woodpeckers do not fly in a homogenous group. Instead, the woodpeckers will mix in with flocks of other birds, so as to increase their safety.