A male hairy woodpecker is a regular visitor to my peanut butter feeders, also sampling from the suet from time to time. In a previous year, a male brought a juvenile with him almost every day — perhaps the same male; limited data show that some individuals can live as long as 15 years. Male hairies are attentive parents, participating in all phases of nesting and chick rearing.
Hairy woodpeckers get their name from long filamentous feathers on their white backs. However, I’ve found no information on possible uses of those special feathers for display. Downy woodpeckers are named for the patch of soft, down feathers on the lower back. Males have a red patch on the back of the head, sometimes divided into two parts by a narrow, vertical black band. The red patch can be used in courtship displays.
Hairy woodpeckers are readily distinguished visually from the similar-looking and closely related downy woodpeckers by size. Hairies average just over nine inches long and downies average just under seven inches long (males and females are typically similar in size), being slightly larger in the northern part of their range. The bill on hairies is relatively longer and stouter too. The outer tail feathers of hairies are usually white, unmarked with black, while downies have small black marks along the edges of those feathers.
Both species range widely over North America, south of the far north Arctic zone; some populations of hairies also occur in Central America. They are considered to have year-round resident populations. Neither species is regularly migratory, but some seasonal movements of some individuals seem to occur sometimes in some areas, either locally or occasionally long-distance dispersing of young adults.
In general, hairies live in forested areas, both deciduous and coniferous, but there is regional variation in the types of forest preferred. Downies prefer deciduous forest or mixed forest with lots of deciduous trees. Hairies commonly forage on tree trunks and branches, downies use tree trunks too, but they are more likely to forage on small branches, vines, sturdy vegetation stems, and goldenrod galls. Downies glean the surface, probe into crevices, and excavate small holes. In addition to gleaning the surface, hairies often flake off loose bits of bark; wood-boring larvae are detected by tapping a branch. If one is located, the bird may excavate a hole to pursue the prey under the bark. Both eat a variety of arthropods, as well as some fruit and sometimes seeds, occasionally sipping sap from sapsucker wells. In some regions, males and females of both species often choose different foraging substrates.
Breeding behavior of hairies and downies is similar. Both male and female excavate the nest cavity, commonly in a large tree or snag with heart-rot fungus. Eggs are laid one per day. Clutch size varies, but typically averages four or five eggs. Incubation, by both parents, lasts roughly 12 days and starts with the last egg, so hatching is usually synchronous. If, however, one egg hatches a bit late, that chick is at a competitive disadvantage with its siblings, and it often dies. Both parents brood the chicks, the male usually at night, and both parents feed the chicks. The parents consume the fecal sacs of very young chicks and carry away those of older chicks (at least for downies, males do most of this).
The nestling period for downies is shorter than for hairies: downies stay in the nest around three weeks while hairies stay for around four weeks. Fledglings stay with their parents and are fed by them for three or more weeks. Juveniles mature in one year and are generally ready to breed a year after hatching.
• Mary F. Willson is a retired professor of ecology. “On The Trails” appears every Wednesday in the Juneau Empire.
