From Opus

Photo by: CurtMorgan
Colonie, New York, USA, March 2012

Picoides pubescens

[edit] Identification

Length: 5.75 inches (smallest woodpecker in North America.)

• Very small black and white woodpecker
• Very short bill
• Mostly black head set off by broad white supercilium and lower border to auriculars
• Black nape
• White back
• Black wings with white spotting on coverts and flight feathers
• White underparts
• Black rump
• Black tail with white outer tail feathers barred with black
  

Adult male: Red spot on nape

[edit] Distribution

Female
Photo by gophish
Ballston Lake, New York, December 2010

Resident from Alaska across Canada, south throughout United States except Southwest. Can also be found east of Newfoundland and Labrador, on the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies

There are 6 subspecies^[1]:
Eastern

• P. p. pubescens:

• Kansas to North Carolina, south to eastern Texas and Florida

• P. p. medianus:

• Central Alaska to Newfoundland and central US (east of Rocky Mountains)
  

Rocky Mountains

• P. p. leucurus:

• Rocky Mountains (south-eastern Alaska to south-western US)

• P. p. glacialis:

• Coastal south-eastern Alaska
  

Young Male
Photo by Al_in_Virginia
Quinton, Virginia, USA, June 2011

Pacific

• P. p. gairdnerii:

• Coastal western British Columbia to north-western California

• P. p. turati:

• Interior Washington, Oregon and California

[edit] Habitat

Their breeding habitat is forested areas, mainly deciduous, across most of North America to Central America.

The Downy is a familiar bird in its range, especially in winter, when many move into the suburbs and feed on suet at bird feeders. It is often seen in the mixed flocks of chickadees, nuthatches, creepers, and kinglets that gather in the woods during migration and winter.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

As with other woodpeckers, the male is larger than the female and chisels deep into wood with its longer, stronger bill, whereas the female pries under the bark with her shorter bill. Thus a pair is able to share the food resources without competing with one another.

[edit] Breeding

They nest in a tree cavity, excavated by the nesting pair in a dead tree or limb.

[edit] Vocalisation

A quiet pik or a descending rattle.

[edit] Gallery

Click on image to enlarge

Artwork by fishercl

[edit] References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2012. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2012. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist

• List of references

[edit] External Links