![]() John Confer and his students at Ithaca College have studied the downy woodpecker’s use of goldenrod galls as a source of food. Acorns, beachnuts, and walnuts are particular favorites.ĭr. Downies also eat the seeds of oaks, apples, hornbeams, sumac, hickory, and beach. 25% of a downy’s diet are plants made up of the berries of poison ivy, mountain ash, Virginia creeper, serviceberry, tupelo, and dogwood. They also eat spiders, snails, ants, beetles, weevils, and caterpillars, with other local insects included. With their special chisel-like bills and horny, sticky tongues, downies are adept at plucking out great numbers of beetle grubs, insect cocoons, or batches of insect eggs. While standing on that unique tripod of two legs and a tail, downies hitch up and down tree trunks in search of a whole laundry list of insect pests. About 75% of their diet is made up of animal matter gleaned from bark and crevices where insect larvae and eggs lie hidden. Most of the insects they eat are considered destructive to man’s orchards and forest products. Foodīesides being friendly, downy woodpeckers are our good friends for another reason. A bird lover in Wisconsin described downies at their feeding station: “The downies will back down to the suet container on the basswood tree while I sit only a few feet away on the patio. The downy is unquestionably the friendliest woodpecker. The downy woodpecker is sometimes referred to as “little downy.” Behavior towards Humans ![]() Gairdner’s woodpecker / Gairdneri pubescensīatchelder’s woodpecker / Leucurus pubescens There are also six particular downies with six particular scientific names all from different regions of the United States and southern Canada which I have listed below: The downy woodpecker’s scientific name is Picoides pubescens. There is also a location call, known as a “whinny”, made up of a dozen or more tchicks all strung together. They have several single-syllable call notes which include “tchick”, an aggressive social note which are alarm notes. This drumming is the downy’s song, though they do make some vocal noises. They may also drum on logs and snags.Like the hairy woodpecker, the downy beats a tattoo on a dry resonant tree branch. At other times, they have a call consisting of several fast notes that descend at the end. When alarmed they may make a "pick" call. Habitat: Open forests, suburban yards, parks.Look for them in open woodlands, suburban lots, and city parks. Key ID Features: Small black and white woodpecker.This isn't a feeding effort, but a signal to other woodpeckers. Drumming consists of hammering the bill against a solid object, such as a tree.Woodpeckers typically feed in trees, but the tiny downy woodpecker sometimes also feed on insects found in cattail stalks and goldenrod galls, which house fly larvae.Lastly, the frontal skull bones are folded at the base of the bill to act as shock absorbers and muscles behind the bill also help dampen the shock of the bill striking hard surfaces. The tongue is also specialized as it is extremely long, barbed, and sticky allowing the downy to reach into the tunnels formed by larvae of wood-boring insects. The nares (nostrils) are protected from flying wood chips by a thin layer of stiff feathers and the bird protects its eyes by blinking as the bill strikes the wood. It is also chisel-shaped as a pointed bill would tend to bind in wood. ![]() The bill is very straight, to prevent the tip from breaking when hitting a hard surface. These two feathers are so important to the bird's way of life that they are molted only after all the other tail feathers are molted and regrown so the bird retains the bracing effects of the tail year round. The center two feathers on the downy's tail are stiffened by ribs that run their length and provide extra support. The entire tail braces the bird when it is excavating wood. The downy's feet have two toes pointing forward and two backwards to provide a strong grasp on the bark of trees, although they can rotate one toe on each foot to the side for an even better grip. Woodpeckers are ideally suited to this life of creeping up trees looking for insects. The downy woodpecker exploits food resources that most other birds cannot reach. Natural foods are primarily insects found on surfaces, crevices, and beneath the bark of trees. ![]() Downy woodpeckers are a common backyard bird that readily comes to birdfeeders containing sunflower seeds or suet. ![]()
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