The Downy Woodpecker {Dryobatespubescensmedianus) 



By Herman C. DeGroat 



Length : Six inches. 



Range : Middle and eastern portions of United States, Canada and Alaska. 



Food : Beetles that bore into timber, caterpillars, grasshopper eggs, wild 

 fruits and seeds. 



Like all the other woodpeckers, the Downy generally nests in the dead 

 trees, rarely in live ones. lie pecks out a hole twelve to twenty inches deep 

 in the trunk or in a large limb of a tree, enlarging the passage as he goes down. 

 On the chips that fall inside, the eggs are laid and the little ones hatched. The 

 bed may be a hard one, but it is safe from the prying eyes and sharp talons of 

 the Owls, Hawks, Crows and Jays, those natural enemies of the small birds. 

 Tn this hole or in a similar one our Woodpecker makes his home during both 

 summer and winter. Many birds roost at night in the branches of the trees, but 

 this is not true of Woodpeckers. They are always safe at night from storms 

 and enemies in their snug bedrooms. This manner of nesting helps to protect 

 the species from destruction. 



The Downy is the smallest of all the Woodpeckers. However, he makes 

 up in strength and activity what he lacks in size. There are few birds in the 

 North more helpful to man than this one. While many others work hard for 

 us from dawn to darkness during the summer time, this little keeper of the 

 trees works throughout the entire year, and takes no holidays. He is always 

 searching for the tree-destroying borers, ants and caterpillars. Clinging to the 

 trunk with his peculiar feet and braced with his stiff tail, he hammers away with 

 a vigor that must startle the grubs within. Quickly overtaking them with his 

 hammer and chisel and spearing them with his barbed tongue, he makes but a 

 single bite of the largest of them. 



The Downy Woodpecker is the tamest member of his family, coming daily 

 into the trees of the lawns and the orchards for food. He is little disturbed by 

 your approach, and seldom flies farther away than the next tree when he is 

 compelled to move. In the midst of his searching, he often utters a cheerful 

 chick, chick, that seems to indicate his certainty of success. In the winter he is 

 on good terms with Nuthatches and Chickadees, roaming the woods with them 

 during the day in search of food, and often taking them home with him at night 

 to sleep. 



He is easily distinguished from his cousin, the Hairy Woodjiecker. whose 

 coloring is almost exactly the same, but whose size is about one and a half times 

 as great. Two other points of difference are also noticeable. — the plumage on 

 the back of the Hairy Woodpecker is so blended as to give the appearance of 

 hairs rather than of feathers, and the outer tail-feathers of the Hairy are clear 

 white, while those of the Downy are white barred with black. He also keeps 

 to the woods more than the Downy, but in food and all other habits he closely 

 resembles him. 



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