Downy Woodpecker

About the Downy Woodpecker

The Downy Woodpecker is North America's smallest woodpecker and one of its most companionable - a sparrow-sized bird in crisp black-and-white checks, the male wearing a red spot on the back of the head, equally at home in deep woods and on a backyard suet cage.

Its size is its niche. The Downy works stems and branches too slender for bigger woodpeckers - goldenrod galls, weed stalks, twigs - tapping out fly larvae no other woodpecker bothers with. In winter it commonly joins mixed flocks of chickadees and titmice, and it is often the tamest bird in the group.

The identification classic is Downy versus the bigger Hairy Woodpecker: same pattern, different scale. The Downy's stubby bill - clearly shorter than its head is deep - is the reliable mark, along with dark spots on the white outer tail feathers.

In Texas it is a year-round resident across the eastern two-thirds of the state, drumming its short soft rolls in creekside timber. A common bird, but one whose neat pattern and confiding nature never wear out.