5 March 2024
Final month my pals and I had been debating the id of a woodpecker photographed via Donna Foyle all over the Yard Chicken Depend. Is that this a downy woodpecker or a furry? The photograph’s partial view and coffee gentle stipulations make it a captivating ID problem.
First let’s have a look at two transparent footage of each birds, downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) and furry woodpecker (Dryobates villosus), then communicate in regards to the box marks.
The downy woodpecker is 3/4 the period of a furry woodpecker and weighs lower than part. On the other hand, this can be a difficult box mark whilst you don’t have each birds subsequent to one another. (*Thanks, Laura, for reminding me within the feedback.)
The very best box mark whilst you’re taking a look at a solo chicken is the period of the beak relative to period of the top.
- The downy’s beak is shorter than his head front-to-back.
- The furry’s beak is identical period as his head front-to-back.
Sadly the chicken in Donna’s photograph turns out to have an intermediate invoice period. In all probability it was once the perspective.
The scale of the white patch at the downy woodpecker’s neck is greater than the only at the furry. David Sibley illustrated this clue to their id in a piece of writing in 2011. The clue is refined in my comparability footage however the chicken in Donna’s photograph turns out to have a big white patch on its neck. Downy?
The fourth clue is at the again of the male’s head however you wish to have a photograph to look this.
- The pink at the again of the male downy’s head is a continual line.
- The pink at the again of the furry’s head is damaged via a vertical black patch.
The furry’s head photograph was once the most efficient I may in finding. David Sibley has a just right representation at this hyperlink.
And in any case, downy woodpeckers have dots on their outer tail feathers whilst furry woodpeckers have all-white outer tail feathers. Footage of lacking white dots weren’t helpful so there’s handiest this representation.
I’ve by no means — ever — noticed the tail feather box mark as a result of I’m too busy taking a look at beaks.
Kathy Miller had the most efficient recommendation all over the downy-hairy debate, “If I will be able to’t inform which one it’s, it’s a downy.”
(footage from Donna Foyle & Wikimedia Commons)