Day 22: Hairy Woodpecker

Woodpeckers are some of my favorite species of birds. We have quite a few species here in Maryland. One of the more common woodpeckers is the Hairy Woodpecker, which is found throughout much of North America.

The bird we had at our feeder today was a female (it had no red on its crown). The male Hairy Woodpecker has a narrow red patch or two smaller patches of red on the back of its crown.

The Hairy Woodpecker looks very similar to the Downy Woodpecker, which is another common feeder bird (I'll post about the Downy tomorrow). To me, it's still pretty difficult to tell the two species apart, though Jared is really good at it now. The Hairy Woodpecker is slightly larger than the Downy, has a heavier and longer bill, and usually lacks black markings on its outer tail-feathers. Here's a quick comparison I put together (both of them were at our suet feeder today):

Pretty hard to tell, right? I definitely need some more practice.

In addition to frequenting feeders, Hairy Woodpeckers forage for insects on trees. They also eat fruits, berries, nuts, and sometimes tree sap.