Downy Woodpecker

Identification

The smallest woodpecker in North America, a compact black-and-white bird about the size of a sparrow. The back is white down the centre with black wings neatly checkered with white spots; the head carries a black stripe through the eye and another running back from the bill; and the bill is short, noticeably shorter than the depth of the head. The male has a small red patch on the nape, while the female's head is entirely black and white. The white outer tail feathers are barred with small black spots — a reliable way to separate it from the very similar Hairy Woodpecker, which is larger and has clean white outer tail feathers.

It forages on trunks and branches and, unusually for a woodpecker, on weed stems and goldenrod galls, where its small size lets it work food that bigger birds cannot reach. The diet is mostly insects — beetle larvae, ants, and the larvae of gall insects and bark beetles — topped up with seeds, berries and suet at feeders. It excavates a fresh nest hole in a dead limb or stub each year, with the male doing most of the digging. The common call is a sharp, flat 'pik'; it also gives a descending whinny of notes, and drums in a short, fast burst that lasts about a second.

A year-round resident across most of North America, abundant in woodlots, orchards, suburbs, parks and backyards, and among the easiest woodpeckers to attract to a suet feeder or a hanging peanut cake. Look for it working the smaller branches and twigs at mid-height, often in loose winter flocks with chickadees and nuthatches. In spring the drum burst and the descending whinny are the quickest ways to confirm it, since the Hairy Woodpecker's call is noticeably sharper and its drumming faster and longer.