There are a few moments after sunset when the light is still bright enough to photograph and to film. Perhaps they are tending other tasks in preparation of winter, collecting and caching food in their newly excavated holes. A few woodpeckers have been sighted, their calls noted, and only an occasional distant drumming heard. Look At The Feathers And Markings Another slight differences between the two birds can be seen in the tail feathers. This makes a hairy woodpecker’s drumming sound much faster.
I’ve returned to Beaver Pond several time since the day the bonanza of woodpeckers was photographed but haven’t been treated to the rhythm band since. Downy woodpeckers usually produce 17 drums per second while hairy woodpeckers will produce 25 drums per second. Winter roosts created by woodpeckers may later provide shelter or nest sites for many other species of animals including owls, flying squirrels, bluebirds, nuthatches, and chickadees. The Hairy Woodpecker is much larger, clocking in around nine to eleven inches in length. The outer edge of their tail feathers are white, barred with black, lending a spotted appearance. The outer edge of the tail feathers of Hairy Woodpeckers is pure white (see top photo above to compare). There is roughly a three-inch difference in size between the two birds. Downies are smaller and their bills are more delicate in appearance. Hairy Woodpeckers are about the size of an American Robin. Woodpeckers use their tongues to spear and extract wood-boring insects, as a sticky trap for catching ants, and as a brush for licking up sap.ĭowny and Hairy Woodpeckers look similar. The woodpecker’s tongue is quite extraordinary, being long and extendable, and also coated with bristly hairs. During the winter their diet is comprised of seeds, nuts, fruits, and berries. The black mark that extends from the shoulder onto. Woodpeckers mostly eat insects, in all stages, from egg to larvae to pupae to adult. The downy woodpeckers white outer tail feathers are usually barred in black, giving it a spotted effect. During the fall, a woodpecker will spend about a week excavating winter roosting holes. The Hairy Woodpeckers bill is almost as long as.
Woodpeckers excavate dead and dying trees and limbs not only to create nest cavities and to forage for insect prey, but to also enlarge cavities used for winter shelter. The back feathers of the Hairy Woodpecker are stiff and hair-like, a contrast to the Downys softer feathers. It is no mystery as to why the pond shore is a sanctuary for woodpeckers, surrounded as it is with trees in a wonder of varying stages of decay. Not one, not two, but three different species of woodpeckers were drumming the forest canopy! I must have arrived on the ideal day, for there were seemingly dozens of woodpecker excavations taking place. Rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat resonating through the tree tops. The little wild wood encircling Beaver Pond was alive with a veritable rhythm band.
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