Hairy Woodpecker Nest Hole Excavation

A mated pair of Downy Hairy woodpeckers have been excavating a nest hole, in the ash tree adjacent to our back deck, for the last several weeks. Here you see the male doing the majority of the grunt work, and the female flies over to inspect it after all is said and done;-)

Josh Fecteau corrected my bird I.D., as I am notorious for getting it wrong;-) I always wait to see what he says as there are so many tiny details that I miss. So, you can learn along with me...

"For a couple of reasons, I'd say these are Hairy Woodpeckers. Note how the white eyebrow of each bird is broken in the rear with black (Downy, according to David Sibley, usually shows a continuous white band). Both birds also have unmarked outer tail feathers (I'd expect some black bars/spots on the outer tail feathers of a Downy). And lastly, though we don't get a true side profile, the bills look proportionately long to me.

An excellent way to tell them apart in the field is to learn their call notes. I hope this helps..."

(Aughhh...I had looked at the following characteristics: It seemed to me that where the bill contacts the head there was a conspicuous tuft of nasal bristles, but they must be much more mustache-like on a Downy;-) I was looking at the bill and thought it looked long, but I was thinking that with the close-up photo it may have just looked long to me... Now, after looking at the female bird and stopping the video, I focused in on the area at the forward part of the upper eyelid and the Downy females have a black area that breaks up the white eyebrow, whereas the Hairy female has a continuous white eyebrow like I see here. And, the Downy woodpeckers really do have a short bill.

Thanks, Josh!