Hairy Woodpeckers and Downy Woodpeckers

By admin
Posted in Birds
On December 1, 2018
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Wth the gardens lying dormant for the winter in The Peg (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), we gardeners have to find other things to amuse us. For me, bird-watching – like seeing the Downy Woodpecker and the Hairy Woodpecker in my back yard – is a fun pastime, even though watching the birds from inside my warm house becomes more challenging as the weather becomes colder. With each passing week, the windows frost up more thoroughly and for the remaining winter months, looking through and around the frost becomes more difficult to do.

This morning it was a balmy minus 6 Celsius in my town with only a light dusting of snow – that’s considered a lovely Saturday morning for the first day of December and my windows remain clear. Outside at my bird feeder this morning, visiting within 30 minutes of each other, were two of the six types of woodpeckers that are local to Manitoba. My visitors were the Hairy Woodpecker (25 cm / 10 in.) and its smaller and similar looking relative, the little Downy Woodpecker (15 cm / 6 in.). Both are pictured enjoying some seeds and berry treats at the same bird feeder in my backyard.

Downy Woodpecker

The Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescent) was quite territorial while feeding. I imagine the Hairy Woodpecker behaves in a similar way as well, but the smaller birds simply stay away from the larger woodpecker. With the Downy, however, there were several House Sparrows lined up for their turns at the cylinder feeder. The Downy would tolerate them while they remained far enough away, on the opposite side, but if they were so daring as to approach on the same side, the Downy would promptly send them on their way with a quick head jerk in their direction.

Hairy Woodpecker

The Hairy Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus) has similar markings to the smaller Downy version, with the white cheek, black and white patterned wings, and the pronounced white strip down the back. Both birds have the dark markings around the eyes, a white strip above the brow, and the distinctive red patch of feathers at the back of the head. The beak on the Hairy Woodpecker is, not surprisingly, longer than that of the smaller Downy. My photograph of the Hairy Woodpecker is a bit out of focus, but I’ve included it in the Cookie Buxton photo gallery as it shows the dramatic size difference between the two woodpeckers.

Other woodpeckers living in Manitoba are all fairly large specimens, among them the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (23 cm / 9 in.) (Sphyropicus various); the Red-headed Woodpecker (25 cm / 10 in.) (Melanerpes erythrocephalus); and the Northern Flicker (33 cm / 13″) (Colaptes auratus). A rare bird to spot is the forest-dwelling Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus). Also rarely seen in the south of the province is the Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus) that nests in the northern coniferous forests. I have occasionally seen a Northern Flicker at a city park near my home, along the Red River at Frasers Grove, but it has been many years since I have seen Yellow-bellied or Red-headed Woodpeckers inside the the city limits.

Text and Images: Copyright Nadine Kampen / cookiebuxton
Photograph location*: Winnipeg, Manitoba (December 1, 2018)