MY "LITTLEST" WOODPECKER

***A few posts ago I introduced you to my "front door" woodpecker (Sphyrapicus ruber) and mentioned in passing this little fella. I confessed I am still trying to make a firm identification. Is this fella a Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides Villosus) or is he a Downey Woodpecker (Picoides Pubescens)? The choice is clearly between the two types; the problem is their similarity.

***Both are identical in pattern with the neck and body checked and spotted with black and white markings. The far western coastal Downey Woodpeckers usually have a greyer, almost smoky breast and underwing coloring which may distinguish them from the Rockies (interior) strain, but not necessarily from all the Hairy Woodpeckers. Other factors refer to dark spots or patches on the collar of the neck which are larger in the Hairy and not streaked in the Downey.

Both are said to have white patches on the back, but both tend to hunch their shoulders when perched clinging to a trunk, branch, or wire-cage feeder, and this can conceal the white because the dark wings are somewhat forced together over the back. Other "comparative" features - being larger in one or smaller in the other or places where there is more white on one bird than on the other - require both birds to be simutaneously in view to make comparison possible.

***For example, when the tail is open, the Downey may show additional white spots on the outer feathers, but like other characteristics of the two birds, these distinctives may vary with region and localized varities (races). However, the main problem with this particular feature is the speed at which the bird explodes into flight and the rapid rate at which it can dart away making it virtually impossible to see these marks, if they exist at all.

***The best bet seems to be the bill, if you can get close enough to catch a glimpse. "Hairy's" is larger and more tapered than "Downey's", and the latter has more of a feathery tuft on the top of the bill under the eyes than does the former. In this case, birding books give the viewer an advantage by showing what to look for and pictures to examine after an impression has been registered in the mind's eye.

***Well, here is a easy characteristic anyone can master immediately. Whether Downey or Hairy, one sign is rock-solid-certain in this bird: only the male has the distinctive red patch which is displayed so jauntily at the back of the head. Clearly, this is the man of the family because the year-old, juvenile male only has a bit of red on the forehead and then only in mid-summer, and the lady woodpeckers in these two families have no red at all - neither boot, hat, nor handbag.

***So what do I think so far? Hmmmm. I have vascillated back and forth, but lately I have been leaning pretty far in favor of the --- (fanfare: Ta-ta-ta-ta) --- Downey Woodpecker. At least the overall size, the apparently shorter bill, the tiny neck-ring patch, and a single instant of tail at take-off hinting at the requisite spots... Yeah, more likely a Downey, but my buddy in any case as he now allows me to walk up slowly to within about six feet and like his brother out front, he likes me to talk softly to him as I approach. But maybe it's just because the other birds cautiously retreat a bit and he gets the suet all to himself for a few precious moments.

PS Thanks to a couple of you who seem to like this "bird series". Your remarks are appreciated.