A practical guide to bird watching in Sonoma County, California

(Unless otherwise indicated, all phone numbers are in the 707 area code)

 

At about 6.5 inches tall, our smallest woodpecker and among the most common. Present all year in Sonoma County in appropriate habitat--which is just about any wooded environment, including actual woods (particularly near water), farmland, orchards, parks, and suburbia. Often solitary, but may forage in mixed flocks with Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens), Oak Titmouse (Baeolophus inornatus), and other birds. Common winter feeder visitor. Sometimes quite tolerant of close approach.


Identified by its small size; short, delicate bill; plain black back with vertical white stripe; and plain white belly (although populations to the north of us are a dirty, slightly brownish grey where our birds are white). Males have a red spot at the back of the head lacking in females (photo below). Juveniles have a wash of red on the forecrown. Note also the variable white spotting in the wings, the bird’s white outer tail feathers, and the variable black spotting in those feathers.


Often confused with Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus), but Hairy Woodpecker is a larger bird (around nine inches from head to toe) with a longer, heavier bill. Looking at the head is often enough to separate Downy and Hairy Woodpecker, if the difference in overall size does not make the species immediately apparent. The bill of Downy Woodpecker will be about half as long as its head. The bill of Hairy Woodpecker will be nearly the same length as its head. Otherwise the two birds look similar, but there are other, subtle differences besides overall size and bill length: Downy Woodpecker will show black spots or bars in the white of its outer tail feathers not present in Hairy Woodpecker. Hairy Woodpecker has a spur of extra black at the “shoulder” extending part of the way onto the breast, a feature lacking in Downy Woodpecker. Hairy Woodpecker is more likely to be in woods, away from human activity. Vocalizations are different as well (see links to recordings below).


Downy Woodpecker can be easily separated from the slightly larger Nuttall’s Woodpecker (Picoides nuttallii) by comparing the backs of the birds: Nuttall’s is horizontally striped with white on the back. Again, Downy Woodpecker has a single, wide, vertical stripe down its back. Also, Downy is mostly white on the flanks and belly, while Nuttall’s Woodpecker is variably spotted with black on the flanks (see photos below).


English synonyms: Batchelder's Woodpecker, Gairdner's Woodpecker, Southern Downy Woodpecker, Willow Woodpecker, Little Downy Woodpecker (none of these used in Sonoma County)

Downy Woodpecker in other languages--German: Dunenspecht; Spanish: Carpintero Peludo, Carpintero velloso menor, Carpintero Velloso-menor, Carpintero-velloso Menor, Pico Pubescente; French: Pic mineur; Japanese: セジロコゲラ (Sejirokogera), Russian: Пушистый дятел, Chinese: 绒啄木鸟

(Language information from Avibase, Birds of Europe (Mullarney et al, Princeton Field Guide Series), and Birds of Asia (Mark Brazil, Princeton Field Guide Series).


Further reading:

Bolander and Parmeter, Birds of Sonoma County California, rev. ed., 2000, p. 80

Brinkley, National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Birds of North America, 2007, p. 281

Burridge, ed., Sonoma County Breeding Bird Atlas, 1995, p. 94

Dunn and Alderfer, eds., National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 5th ed., 2006, p. 290

Dunn and Alderfer, eds., National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 6th ed., 2011, p. 320

Dunne, Pete Dunne’s Essential Field Guide Companion, 2006, pp. 381-382

Ehrlich, Dobkin, and Wheye, The Birder's Handbook, paperback edition, 1988, p. 350

Fix and Bezener, Birds of Northern California, 2000, p. 233

Floyd, Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 2008, p. 268

Kaufman, Field Guide to Birds of North America, 2000, p. 214

Kaufman, Field Guide to Advanced Birding, 2011, pp. 104, 118, 343

Lukas, Bay Area Birds: From Sonoma County to Monterey Bay, 2012, p. 170-171, 172,

Parmeter and Wight, Birds of Sonoma County California, Update (2000-2010), 2012, p. 47

Peterson, Birds of Eastern and Central North America, 5th ed., 2002, p. 220

Peterson, Field Guide to Birds of Western North America, 4th ed., 2010, p. 240

Peterson, Western Birds, 3rd ed., 1990,  p. 224

Sibley, Field Guide to Birds of Western North America,1st ed., 2003, p. 268

Stokes, Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 1st ed., 2010, p. 444

Vuilleumier, American Museum of Natural History, Birds of North America: Western Region, 2011, p. 236


Voice: Cornell Lab of Ornithology: All About Birds--Downy Woodpecker

Voice: Cornell Lab of Ornithology: All About Birds--Hairy Woodpecker

Voice: Cornell Lab of Ornithology: All About Birds--Nuttall’s Woodpecker

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© Colin Talcroft, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

Unless noted, all photos by the author. If you would like to use one of my images, please ask for permission for non-commercial use with proper credit or commercial use with proper compensation.

ctalcroft@yahoo.com

Downy Woodpecker, Spring Lake, Santa Rosa, October 29, 2013

Downy Woodpecker (female), Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa, December 2, 2012

Note single vertical stripe of white down the back

Downy Woodpecker

Picoides pubescens

1990-2013 Sonoma County data. Graph provided by eBird (www.ebird.org), generated November 10, 2013

EBird reported occurrence in Sonoma County

For comparison: Nuttall’s Woodpecker (female), Arroyo Sierra Drive, Santa Rosa, February 8, 2013

Note ladder-like striping on back rather than a single vertical stripe of white; also, black spotting on flanks and lower belly

For comparison: Nuttall’s Woodpecker (male), Hewitt St., Santa Rosa, January 30, 2013 Note ladder-like striping on back rather than a single vertical stripe of white; also, black spotting on flanks and lower belly

For comparison: Hairy Woodpecker, Shevlin Park, Bend, Oregon, August 10, 2011

Note the much longer, heavier bill than in Downy Woodpecker