Hairy Woodpecker

Male of eastern type, notice extensive white markings on wings
Photo by Marcel Gauthier
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada

Picoides villosus

Identification

Males have a red patch on the back of the head.
Females lack this red patch.
Juvenile and second year birds have red feathers in the crown.
The male usually has a more extensive covering of red feathers than the female.

Variation

White on especially underparts can be replaced by buffy and the white on the back have reduced size in darker forms especially found in Pacific North-West and in Central America

Similar Species

Downy Woodpecker: Hairy Woodpecker has a proportionately larger bill that is about the same length as the head.

Female of pacific type, notice that white markings are limited to the edge of the wing
Photo by digishooter
Wofford Heights, Kern Co., California, USA, November 2009

Downy Woodpecker has a much smaller, stubbier bill. Hairy Woodpecker lacks dark markings on its outer tail feathers that the Downy has. (This field mark is less useful in the Northwest where darker races of both species exist and these marks are usually present)

Distribution

Nearly universal in North America. In the east north to southern Canada, in the west north to southern Alaska.

Also found in the mountains of Mexico and Central America south to Panama.

Taxonomy

Placed in genus Leuconotopicus by Gill and Donsker.

Subspecies

Juvenile
Photo by digishooter
Wofford Heights, Kern Co., California, USA, July 2009

There are 15 subspecies^[1]:

• P. v. septentrionalis: Western North America (Alaska to northern New Mexico)
• P. v. villosus: Eastern North Dakoka to southern Quebec, Nova Scotia, central Texas, Missouri, Virginia
• P. v. terraenovae: Newfoundland
• P. v. sitkensis: Coastal south-eastern Alaska and northern British Columbia
• P. v. picoideus: Queen Charlotte Islands (off British Columbia)
• P. v. harrisi: Coastal southern British Columbia to north-western California
• P. v. audubonii: Southern Illinois to south-eastern Virginia, eastern Texas and Gulf Coast
• P. v. hyloscopus: Western California to northern Baja California
• P. v. orius: Cascade Mountains of British Columbia to south-eastern California and western Texas
• P. v. icastus: South-eastern Arizona and New Mexico through western Mexico to Jalisco
• P. v. jardinii: Central and eastern Mexico to Jalisco, Guerrero and Oaxaca
• P. v. sanctorum: Southern Mexico (Chiapas) and Guatemala to western Panama
• P. v. piger: Northern Bahamas (Abaco, Mores and Grand Bahama)
• P. v. maynardi: Southern Bahamas (Andros and New Providence)
• P. v. extimus: Costa Rica and western Panama

Habitat

Photo by Deerbird
Kentucky, USA, January 2016

Woodlands and suburbs

Behaviour

Diet

Diet includes insects, berries and acorns. Will also visit bird feeders for peanuts, suet, black oil sunflower seeds .

Breeding

Both sexes excavate a cavity in live wood. The clutch of 3 to 6 eggs are incubated by both adults. Males brood the eggs at night, and females during the day. Eggs hatch in about 14 days, and young birds leave the cavity in about a month. Young birds will accompany adults for the first two weeks or so before they become independent.

Vocalisation

Descending rattle: kekekekekekeke... A bit lower than Downy Woodpecker (but very similar).

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Hairy Woodpecker. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 26 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Hairy_Woodpecker

External Links

Search for photos of Hairy Woodpecker in the gallery

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