DOWNY WOODPECKER

7"

CALL

Recorded in Greenwood, Texas in the fall of 2000

Video Clip

Taped in Greenwood, Texas in January 2001

FIELD IDENTIFICATION: The Downy Woodpecker is a common, year-round resident of Wise County.  All ages, male and female, have black and white speckled and barred wings, and a bold white stripe vertically down the back.  Adult male and females have a patterned black and white face, with males having red on the back of the head.  Juveniles have red on the crown.

The similar but larger Hairy Woodpecker has a distinctly longer beak, and usually, but not always, lacks bars on the white margins of the tail.  The Downy's beak is about the length between the eye and the beak's base, while the Hairy's is almost one and a half or twice that.

by Claire Curry

male

female

This female Downy had a collision with the window, but soon was on its way.

Photos by Mary and Claire Curry in the Spring 2001 in Greenwood, Texas