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Photographed in May 2011, just posting now. I think this is a Hairy Woodpecker (seen on side of tree trunk with the open hole, housing a nest in first photo).
Nesting in a dead tree trunk in the woods.
Photographed in Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve in New Hope, PA
Spotted on May 30, 2011
Submitted on Sep 13, 2011
3 Comments
I see what you mean. I was looking at the drawings on the whatbird site. I should know better by now. The pictures do look remarkably similar. Size would be a distinctive characteristic with the hairy woodpecker being the larger.
Thanks for the link, 1Sarah2.
I based my guess on its being a Hairy on it's relatively large size as described on Cornell's site: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBi...
And it looks to me in this link that both the Hairy and Downy have the line down the neck you're referring to.
I think that this is a Downy Woodpecker.
http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/177/ove...
Check out the head illustration, especially the line coming from the bill and down the neck.