Downy Woodpecker

Description:

The smallest woodpecker in North America. Has a white back, black nape and black wings with white spotting. Underparts are white. Face is white with black stripes. Hindcrown patch is red. Tail is black with black-spotted or barred white outer tail feathers. Bill is black and short.

Habitat:

Wildlife habitat yard.

Notes:

As the smallest North American woodpecker, the Downy can drill cavities in dead trees or limbs that measure as little as 10 cm around. This means that it can live in a wider range of habitat than can larger woodpeckers. Males tend to feed in the tops of trees on branches that are small in diameter, females feed midlevel and lower on larger diameter branches. The Downy Woodpecker uses sources of food that larger woodpeckers cannot, such as the insect fauna on weed stems.