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Thursday, March 10, 2011

Hairy Woodpecker

I found a new bird! At least it's new for me. Well, kinda new anyway. This bird is called a hairy woodpecker. They are the identical big brothers to downy woodpeckers, which I've featured before here several times in the past. The problem is that I didn't know the difference between the two back then, so a few of those downies may have been hairies instead.

So now that raises the question of what makes them different; and you are curious now, aren't you? The simple answer is that a hairy woodpecker is much bigger than a downy woodpecker. Seeing them together is the only way to see that difference unless you've seen as many of them as I have. The easiest way to tell them apart though is their beak size.

Take a look at the hairy woodpecker in the photo above. His beak is about the same length as his head. The beak of a downy woodpecker is much shorter than its head. That's how you know. And notice I said "his." That red on the back of his head tells us that he's a male. Females don't have the red; only the males do.

There are other smaller differences, but the ones I told you are more obvious and they're good enough to use every time. Did you learn something new? I've wanted to share this information for a long time now, but I didn't have any hairy woodpeckers to show you until now.

This is the only bird I got pictures of during my latest nature trip, but I heard many of them. Blue jays seemed to be everywhere, but I could only hear them. They seem to like avoiding me for some reason. I also heard some chickadees, cardinals, and several other types, but I saw almost nothing.

The forest is waking up and getting ready for spring here. The animals are everywhere even though they're not ready to be seen yet. Soon I'll have more pictures than I know what to do with. For now, I'm happy with what I have. I'd say I did pretty well for someone who can't get out very often right now.

Oh. We have the identity of the tree from my last post! Out On The Prairie was on the right track with his answers, and Sharkbytes knew exactly what it was. The flowers are actually old seed pods from a tulip tree. I knew I had seen these fake flowers before somewhere. They were on Sharkbytes' blog. Take a look here.

The hairy woodpecker has been my best find in quite some time now. I have more things coming in the near future for you, so expect me back soon. So make sure you comer back next time. I have such sights to show you!


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15 comments:

  1. Instead of putting on make up on her face, the woodpecker applying on her head.

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  2. That's a pretty bird, Ratty! I'm glad you're showing it here..

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  3. All the pix are good, but that first one is awesome! You are getting very good at patiently waiting for those birdies.

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  4. They are hard to decipher just looking at a pic until you see them in the wild. I get both at my feeders and really enjoy them coming in. Glad I was on the mark with that tree.

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  5. We have lots of downy's and hairy's on our suet feeders. I love woodpeckers!!!

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  6. It's always great to learn how to distinguish the difference between birds...especially when they are so similar!!

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  7. The blue jays don't come near you because they've read your other blag Rat Tales. Kind of scared I'm thinkin'!

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  8. Great shot!
    We get a lot of Downy's at out feeder, but I have yet to see a Hairy woodpecker, in the backyard or in the wild, in the two years we have lived here in NC.

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  9. Excellent find Ratty. What a pretty bird.

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  10. Great photos, Ratty! It seemed several years ago that we just had the hairy woodpeckers here, but last year we had both, and the differences became more easy to see.

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  11. I love Woodpeckers. Splendid shots!
    Congrats Shark for nailing the mystery tree.

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  12. I have a little hairy woodpecker who is hanging around my suet feeder lately. He is awfully cute peeping at me to fill the feeder. :)

    Nice shots of this guy!

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  13. Thank you all for your comments. I'm trying to catch up with everything right now.

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  14. Cool! I love it when you find birds I never see in my backyard.

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  15. Thanks for the beautiful photos !!!

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