![]() ![]() ✦ Two of the smallest species of hairy woodpeckers―Picoides villosus piger and Picoides villosus maynardi―are found in the Bahamas. ✦ The longest recorded lifespan of a captive hairy woodpecker was 15 years, 11 months, though its life is much lesser in the wild. In fact, the hairy woodpecker emerges even when it hears the sound of a pileated woodpecker tapping wood! When the pileated woodpecker leaves the hole, the hairy woodpecker arrives to check the hole for any insects that may have missed. ✦ They also follow pileated woodpeckers when they chisel holes in trees. ✦ Unlike downy woodpeckers which forage for food on thin, fragile branches, hairy woodpeckers always frequent thick, strong branches and stems. ✦ Hairy woodpeckers are shy creatures and are usually found in pairs. ▶ The rapid fragmentation of forests and competition for nest sites from the European starling are the biggest threats facing this species. ▶ Between the years 1966 to 2010, their population increased by just 1%. ▶ The hairy woodpecker is regarded as a species of ‘Least Concern (LC)’ on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Animals. They leave the nests about 28 days after hatching, though their parents continue to feed them for sometime after this period. ▶ The chicks are naked, i.e., without feathers and have red patches on their foreheads. ▶ Both the male and the female take turns to watch over their 4 eggs, in shifts. ▶ Their nest has a two-inch opening and is around 10 inches deep, and gets wider toward the end. Sometimes, mating pairs can be seen flying around each other near trees. Both sexes attract each other by drumming. Mating occurs three months before nesting. ▶ Hairy woodpeckers are monogamous, i.e., they have one mate for a period of 4 years. This can sometimes be seen even during flight. ▶ When fighting, it will raise its wings at a 45-degree angle and raise its head upward, while making shrill cries. This may be an old telephone pole, hollow branch, or even a chimney. They also select ‘drumming posts’, tapping on which creates a louder sound. ▶ This drumming sound is used while locating a new nest site and also while announcing their territory. It creates a sound like a rolling drum when tapping at wood. © 2014 Tune In to Nature.▶ Woodpeckers move up the tree in a movement called ‘hitching’, which involves moving in short leaps. 1981 Sanctuary Records Group Ltd, a BMG CompanyīirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler. 'Ace of Spades' by Motorhead, written by Edward Clarke, Ian Kilmister & Phil Taylor. Theme from 'A Summer Place' composed by Percy Faith. Hairy Woodpecker 'pik' call (49075) recorded by Kevin J Colver Hairy Woodpecker 'whinny call' (85105), Downy Woodpecker 'pik' call and Downy Woodpecker 'whinny' call (107281) all recorded by W. …loud and Hairy, like a heavy metal band: īird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, His Hairy cousin prefers hanging out in coniferous woods.īut even if you don’t see them, you can still tell them apart by those calls. It's the Downy you'll see most often at suburban feeders, especially in deciduous woodland: small, black and white, the male sporting a vivid red patch on the back of its head. And it doesn't have the black spots on its outer tail feathers like the Downy. The Hairy Woodpecker's the larger of the two, though, with a distinctly longer bill. Got that? Funny thing though, the Downy isn't particularly downy and the Hairy isn't particularly hairy. And that's the call of the Hairy Woodpecker. Downy and Hairy - Two Similar Woodpeckers ![]()
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