WINTER BACKYARD BIRDS (U.S. AND CANADA)

Hairy Woodpecker

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Picoides Villosus

Hairy Woodpecker

Adults are mainly black on the upper parts and wings, with a white or pale back and white spotting on the wings, throat, and belly vary from white to sooty brown, depending on subspecies. There is a white bar above and one below the eye. They have a black tail with white outer feathers.

Males have red patch on their rear crown, greyish bill, nearly as long as head, and reddish-brown eyes. Their legs and feet are grayish or tinged blue.

Females have black patch on the rear of their head, and they are slightly smaller than males.

Juvenile males have red forehead, but lack the red patch at the rear of their crown. Juvenile females are similar but lack the red.

BILL: thick yellowish-green, cone-shaped bill.

SIZE: medium-large songbird, ranges in length from 6.3 - 8.7 inches, with a wingspan of 12 - 14 inches.

WEIGHT: males weigh about 38.7 - 86.1 grams, while females weigh from 43.2 - 73.5 grams.

COLOR: dark-brown, bright yellow, black, white, brownish-gray and yellow.

Beetle larvae and insects, also sap, berries, nuts, seeds, and suet.

Short, sharp 'peek' slightly lower-pitched and often sounding more emphatic and rattle or whinny.

NEST: Both male and female excavate a hole in live wood, at about 3 to 12 meters above the ground. The nest is only lined with wood chips.

EGGS: 3 - 6 glossy white eggs.

INCUBATION: 11 - 12 days, both sexes.

NESTLING PHASE: 28 - 30 days.

They typically hitch up tree trunks or along large branches, leaning back against their stiff tail feathers and springing upward with both feet at once. They sometimes forage at the bases of trees, particularly on ponderosa pines.

Open and dense forests with dead trees, gardens, parks and residential areas.

Bahamas, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the United States.