Meet Harry
by Wild Thing
Title
Meet Harry
Artist
Wild Thing
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
When this guy showed up outside my window just off my back porch, he created quite a discussion about what kind of woodpecker he was. At first it was thought that he was an American Ladderback, but after looking online, I found out that was impossible because they live in the Southwest of our country and don't come this far north or east! So I kept searching for him. I finally had him down to 2 different types, he was either the hairy woodpecker or a downy woodpecker. After reading the descriptions, I learned he was a hairy woodpecker because of his beak. And so, I aptly named him Harry.
Hairy Woodpecker
Picoides villosus
Although still very widespread and fairly common, thought to have declined from historical levels in many areas. Loss of nesting sites (with cutting of dead snags in forest) is one potential problem. Starlings and House Sparrows may sometimes take over freshly excavated nest cavities.
Forests, woodlands, river groves, shade trees. Accepts wide variety of habitats so long as large trees present; found in deciduous, coniferous, and mixed forest, groves along rivers in prairie country, open juniper woodland, swamps. In southwest and from Mexico to Panama found in mountain forests, mostly of pine, but also in cloud forest in Central America.
This species and the Downy Woodpecker are remarkably similar in pattern, differing mainly in size and bill shape. They often occur together, but the Hairy, a larger bird, requires larger trees; it is usually less common, especially in the east, and less likely to show up in suburbs and city parks. In its feeding it does more pounding and excavating in trees than most smaller woodpeckers, consuming large numbers of wood-boring insects.
Hairy Woodpeckers have a much larger bill than Downy Woodpeckers, nearly the same length as the bird's head. Hairy Woodpeckers also have a longer and more distinct black mark on the shoulder, and in most populations, completely white outer tail feathers. The Hairy Woodpecker's whinny call does not drop in pitch at the end the way a Downy Woodpecker's does. Ladder-backed and Nuttall's woodpeckers have narrow horizontal bars on the back and spotted or streaked underparts. American Three-toed Woodpeckers have finely barred flanks, much less white on the face, and the males have yellow crowns.
Hairy Woodpeckers vary a great deal over their broad range. Northern birds tend to be larger than southern. East of the Rockies they are white below with extensively spotted wings while western birds have much less spotting in the wings and narrower facial stripes. Birds in the Pacific Northwest are brown and black (rather than white and black); they look coffee-stained. Interestingly, Downy Woodpeckers show these same regional patterns of variation.
To bring Hairy Woodpeckers into your yard, try setting up suet, peanut, and black oil sunflower feeders, especially in the winter when food is scarce. If you have dead trees in your yard, or dead parts in a living tree, and if it�s safe to leave them standing, a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers might try to start a family there. In later years, their hole might become a home for wrens, chickadees, nuthatches, bluebirds, or flying squirrels.
You can find Hairy Woodpeckers by scanning the trunks and main branches of large trees, looking for a boldly patterned black-and-white bird. Also listen for their abrupt whinny or their explosive peek call. When Hairy Woodpeckers are foraging busily, you can often hear their energetic tapping if you stand quietly. Information on this delightful bird from the Audobon Society.
Uploaded
February 6th, 2017
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