Woodpeckers
Google image search: Pileated Woodpecker
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Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus Size: 17 inches Diet: Primarily carpenter ants and other insects Habitat: Mature forest Sign: Deep oval or rectangular holes in rotten wood Sound: Deep drumming or 10-15 “cuk” calls Territory: 150-200 acres The pileated woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in North America, except for the similar Ivory-Billed Woodpecker (20 inches), which is thought to be extinct. |
Google image search: Red-Breasted Sapsucker
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Red-Breasted Sapsucker Sphyrapicus ruber Size: 8 inches Diet: Insects, sap and fruit Habitat: Mixed woodlands and orchards Sapsuckers will drill small holes in horizontal rows, and then come back to the same tree later once the sap has started to flow (too many sapsucker visits will actually kill the tree!) Insects attracted to the sap become a bonus snack. Sapsucker tongues have stiff hairs on them for collecting sap. |
Google image search: Downy Woodpecker
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Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens Size: 6 inches Diet: Mostly insects Habitat: Active and widespread; forests, parks, and suburbs The Downy Woodpecker can easily be confused with the larger Hairy Woodpecker, but the length of the beak can help distinguish the two. The Downy Woodpecker has a beak that is shorter than its head, but the Hairy Woodpecker's beak is about the same length as its head. |
Google image search: Brown Creeper
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Brown Creeper Certhia americana Size: 5 inches Diet: Insects and larvae Habitat: Woods Song: 4 clear whistles, sounds like “trees, trees, beautiful trees” Brown Creepers "creep" along tree trunks foraging for food. They rotate up the trunk from the bottom to the top, searching for insects with their beak among the crevices of the bark before flying down to the bottom of another tree. |
Sounds recorded by William W.H. Gunn, Geoffrey A. Keller, and Gregory F. Budney; Courtesy of Macaulay Library ©Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Additional Resources
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