Downy Woodpecker (Dendrocopos pubescens)
Our smallest woodpecker at 6 inches; spotted with black and white.
Dark bars on the outer tail feathers distinguish it from the similar but
larger hairy woodpecker. Resident in the United States and the
forested parts of Canada and Alaska.
The downy woodpecker is widely distributed, living in woodlands, orchards
and gardens. Like the hairy woodpecker, it beats a tattoo on a dry
resonant tree branch. To appreciative ears it has the quality of
forest music. In a hole excavated in a dead branch the downy
woodpecker lays four to six eggs. This and the hairy woodpecker are
valuable human allies, their food consisting of some of the worst
insect foes of orchard and shade trees. Beef, suet, fastened too high
for dogs to pirate, will attract Downies to a feeding station.