Downy Woodpecker

At about 6.5 inches tall, our smallest woodpecker and among the most common. Present all year in Sonoma County in appropriate habitat--which is just about any wooded environment, including actual woods (particularly near water), farmland, orchards, parks, and suburbia. Often solitary, but may forage in mixed flocks with Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens), Oak Titmouse (Baeolophus inornatus), and other birds. Common winter feeder visitor. Sometimes quite tolerant of close approach.

Identified by its small size; short, delicate bill; plain black back with vertical white stripe; and plain white belly (although populations to the north of us are a dirty, slightly brownish grey where our birds are white). Males have a red spot at the back of the head lacking in females (photo below). Juveniles have a wash of red on the forecrown. Note also the variable white spotting in the wings, the bird’s white outer tail feathers, and the variable black spotting in those feathers.

Often confused with Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus), but Hairy Woodpecker is a larger bird (around nine inches from head to toe) with a longer, heavier bill. Looking at the head is often enough to separate Downy and Hairy Woodpecker, if the difference in overall size does not make the species immediately apparent. The bill of Downy Woodpecker will be about half as long as its head. The bill of Hairy Woodpecker will be nearly the same length as its head. Otherwise the two birds look similar, but there are other, subtle differences besides overall size and bill length: Downy Woodpecker will show black spots or bars in the white of its outer tail feathers not present in Hairy Woodpecker. Hairy Woodpecker has a spur of extra black at the “shoulder” extending part of the way onto the breast, a feature lacking in Downy Woodpecker. Hairy Woodpecker is more likely to be in woods, away from human activity. Vocalizations are different as well (see links to recordings below).

Downy Woodpecker can be easily separated from the slightly larger Nuttall’s Woodpecker (Picoides nuttallii) by comparing the backs of the birds: Nuttall’s is horizontally striped with white on the back. Again, Downy Woodpecker has a single, wide, vertical stripe down its back. Also, Downy is mostly white on the flanks and belly, while Nuttall’s Woodpecker is variably spotted with black on the flanks (see photos below).

English synonyms: Batchelder's Woodpecker, Gairdner's Woodpecker, Southern Downy Woodpecker, Willow Woodpecker, Little Downy Woodpecker (none of these used in Sonoma County)

Downy Woodpecker in other languages--German: Dunenspecht; Spanish: Carpintero Peludo, Carpintero velloso menor, Carpintero Velloso-menor, Carpintero-velloso Menor, Pico Pubescente; French: Pic mineur; Japanese: セジロコゲラ (Sejirokogera), Russian: Пушистый дятел, Chinese: 绒啄木鸟

(Language information from Avibase, Birds of Europe (Mullarney et al, Princeton Field Guide Series), and Birds of Asia (Mark Brazil, Princeton Field Guide Series).