Picoides pubescensdowny woodpecker

Ge­o­graphic Range

Downy wood­peck­ers are found through­out North Amer­ica, from south­east­ern Alaska east to New­found­land, ex­tend­ing south to south­ern Cal­i­for­nia and Florida. The ma­jor­ity of downy wood­peck­ers through­out the ge­o­graphic range are year-round res­i­dents. Some pop­u­la­tions are lo­cally mi­gra­tory, es­pe­cially those along the At­lantic coast. (Jack­son and Ouel­let, 2002)

Habi­tat

In the north­ern part of their range, downy wood­peck­ers favor open de­cid­u­ous forests and wood­lands. This in­cludes mixed, sec­ondary-growth forests of oak-hick­ory or beech-maple-hem­lock. They are less com­mon in conifer-dom­i­nated forests un­less there is a de­cid­u­ous un­der­story. Downy wood­peck­ers are also com­mon in cul­ti­vated areas such as or­chards, and are some­times found in urban and sub­ur­ban set­tings. In the south, they fre­quent ri­par­ian woods or moist, as­pen-wil­low stands. They are also found in the south­ern Rocky Moun­tains. (Jack­son and Ouel­let, 2002)

  • Range elevation
    2744 (high) m
    9002.62 (high) ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Downy wood­peck­ers are small­est wood­peck­ers na­tive to North Amer­ica. They are 14.5 to 17 cm long and weigh 21 to 28 g. They are largely black-and-white; their back is black with white down the cen­ter and their wings are black with white spots. The head is black with a white stripe above and below each eye. The tail is black with outer por­tions of white barred with black. The chest and belly are white to gray­ish.

Downy wood­peck­ers have whitish nasal tufts at the base of a thick, black, chisel-shaped bill. Males and fe­males are sim­i­lar in ap­pear­ance, but the males have a small red patch on the nape of the neck. Ju­ve­nile males usu­ally have a red patch on the fore­head and lack red on the nape of the neck. Ju­ve­nile fe­males look sim­i­lar to ju­ve­nile males, but lack any red on the fore­head or nape.

Downy wood­peck­ers are com­monly con­fused with hairy wood­peck­ers (Pi­coides vil­lo­sus), which have sim­i­lar plumage, but are dis­tinctly larger. Downy wood­peck­ers also have a shorter, stub­bier bill (shorter than the length of their head) than hairy wood­peck­ers. The two species can also be dis­tin­guished be­hav­iorally; downy wood­peck­ers give much less pow­er­ful vo­cal­iza­tions and tend to for­age on smaller sub­strates than hairy wood­peck­ers.

There are eight rec­og­nized sub­species of downy wood­peck­ers. These sub­species are dif­fer­en­ti­ated by ge­o­graphic range and plumage vari­a­tion. (Jack­son and Ouel­let, 2002)

  • Sexual Dimorphism
  • sexes alike
  • male more colorful
  • Range mass
    21 to 28 g
    0.74 to 0.99 oz
  • Range length
    14.5 to 17 cm
    5.71 to 6.69 in
  • Range wingspan
    83 to 105 mm
    3.27 to 4.13 in
  • Average basal metabolic rate
    0.383 W
    AnAge

Re­pro­duc­tion

Downy wood­peck­ers are monog­a­mous. Breed­ing pairs usu­ally begin form­ing in late win­ter and early spring (Jan­u­ary to March). Once a breed­ing pair forms, they for­age to­gether until in­cu­ba­tion be­gins. This may be a form of mate guard­ing. Breed­ing pairs usu­ally stay to­gether for the length of a sum­mer, and may mate to­gether for more than one breed­ing sea­son. (Jack­son and Ouel­let, 2002)

The male and fe­male ex­ca­vate a nest cav­ity to­gether, usu­ally in a dead limb of a liv­ing or dead tree. Ex­ca­va­tion takes 7 to 20 days, and is usu­ally begun about two weeks be­fore egg-lay­ing. The fe­male lays 3 to 8 eggs (av­er­age 4.8) at a rate of 1 per day. Both par­ents in­cu­bate the eggs; the male in­cu­bates at night and the adults share in­cu­ba­tion dur­ing the day. The eggs hatch syn­chro­nously after 12 days. This nestlings are al­tri­cial at hatch­ing, but de­velop very quickly. They are brooded nearly con­stantly for the first 4 days after hatch­ing, and are fed by both par­ents. The chicks leave the nest 18 to 21 days after hatch­ing. The par­ents con­tinue to care for the fledg­lings for at least three weeks, feed­ing them, lead­ing them to food sources and warn­ing them of po­ten­tial preda­tors. Most young downy wood­peck­ers are able to breed the next sea­son.

Downy wood­peck­ers oc­ca­sion­ally have fe­male "helpers" at the nest. These helpers are not usu­ally off­spring of the breed­ing pair. (Jack­son and Ouel­let, 2002)

  • Breeding interval
    Downy woodpeckers breed once per year.
  • Breeding season
    Downy woodpeckers begin breeding in late winter (January through March)
  • Range eggs per season
    3 to 8
  • Average eggs per season
    4.8
  • Average eggs per season
    4
    AnAge
  • Range time to hatching
    12 (high) days
  • Range fledging age
    18 to 21 days
  • Range time to independence
    3 (low) weeks
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    1 years
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
    1 years

Both par­ents in­cu­bate the eggs, keep the nest clean, feed the young and pro­tect them from preda­tors. The young re­main with the par­ents for up to three weeks after fledg­ing. (Jack­son and Ouel­let, 2002)

  • Parental Investment
  • altricial
  • pre-fertilization
    • provisioning
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-hatching/birth
    • protecting
      • male
      • female
  • pre-weaning/fledging
    • provisioning
      • male
      • female
    • protecting
      • male
      • female
  • pre-independence
    • provisioning
      • male
      • female
    • protecting
      • male
      • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

One wild downy wood­pecker lived to be 11 years and 11 months old. Most downy wood­peck­ers prob­a­bly do not live this long. (Jack­son and Ouel­let, 2002)

Be­hav­ior

Downy wood­peck­ers are di­ur­nal and non-mi­gra­tory. They are soli­tary, though they are oc­ca­sion­ally seed for­ag­ing in loose as­so­ci­a­tion. Males de­fend a ter­ri­tory against other males, and fe­males de­fend a ter­ri­tory against fe­males. When an in­truder en­ters a downy wood­pecker's ter­ri­tory, the res­i­dent wood­pecker uses threat dis­plays, such as wing flick­ing, or fan­ning their tail, rais­ing their crest and hold­ing their bill high to try to drive the in­truder away. If threat dis­plays do not work, downy wood­peck­ers may at­tack the in­truder, grap­pling with them in mid-air. (Jack­son and Ouel­let, 2002)

  • Range territory size
    0.044 (low) km^2

Home Range

Home ranges range from from 0.02 to 0.12 square kilo­me­ters and vary with habi­tat qual­ity (smaller home ranges are re­quired in high-qual­ity habi­tat). Home ranges are smaller dur­ing the nestling pe­riod, when adults need to re­main near the nest. (Jack­son and Ouel­let, 2002)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Downy wood­peck­ers use vo­cal­iza­tions and body sig­nals to com­mu­ni­cate. They pro­duce a va­ri­ety of sounds, in­clud­ing "pik", rat­tle, scold­ing, "wad", "chirp", squeak, screech, and dis­tress calls. The "pik" call in­tro­duces the rat­tle call, and these are used dur­ing ag­gres­sive in­ter­ac­tions. Short calls, the "wad" and "chirp", are ut­tered by young birds. A longer note call, the squeak, is also ut­tered by young downy wood­peck­ers. The screech and dis­tress calls are used to sig­nal alarm.

Drum­ming is a com­mon non-vo­cal sound used by downy wood­peck­ers to com­mu­ni­cate. This sound is heard in most fre­quently in late win­ter and spring, and is used to es­tab­lish and de­fend a ter­ri­tory, to at­tract a mate and to com­mu­ni­cate be­tween mates.

Downy wood­peck­ers also use body pos­tures to com­mu­ni­cate. Pos­tures ex­hib­ited by downy wood­peck­ers often in­clude some com­bi­na­tion of bill point­ing and wav­ing, wing flick­ing, crest rais­ing, wing spread­ing, tail spread­ing, head turn­ing and head swing­ing. (Jack­son and Ouel­let, 2002)

Food Habits

Downy wood­peck­ers are om­niv­o­rous. Their pri­mary foods in­clude in­sects and other arthro­pods, fruits, seeds, sap and some cam­bium tis­sue. Bee­tles, wee­vils, ants, bugs, plant lice and cater­pil­lars are among the in­sects eaten. They also con­sume scale in­sects and spi­ders. Downy wood­peck­ers will also eat suet from back­yard feed­ers.

Downy wood­peck­ers glean in­sects from the sur­faces of trees, shrubs and large weeds, probe into crevices and ex­ca­vate shal­low holes into wood to find food. Males and fe­males within a pop­u­la­tion often dif­fer in their for­ag­ing habits. For ex­am­ple, in one study in Illi­nois, males spent more time ex­ca­vat­ing than fe­males, and fe­males probed bark sur­faces more than males.

Downy wood­peck­ers drink water by scoop­ing it up with their bill. They drink from water that col­lects on hor­i­zon­tal limb sur­faces, in epi­phytes, pud­dles, streams, ponds and bird baths. (Jack­son and Ouel­let, 2002)

  • Animal Foods
  • insects
  • terrestrial non-insect arthropods
  • Plant Foods
  • wood, bark, or stems
  • seeds, grains, and nuts
  • fruit
  • sap or other plant fluids

Pre­da­tion

Adult downy wood­peck­ers are preyed upon by sev­eral species of birds of prey. To hide them­selves from preda­tors, downy wood­peck­ers flat­ten them­selves against the sur­face of the tree bark and re­main mo­tion­less. Downy wood­peck­ers may also dodge a hawk by dart­ing be­hind a tree branch, or wind­ing their way around the branch to avoid the hawk. In urban areas, downy wood­pecker preda­tors in­clude rats and do­mes­tic cats. Eggs and nestlings are vul­ner­a­ble to climb­ing preda­tors such as snakes and squir­rels, as well as other wood­peck­ers, in­clud­ing red-bel­lied wood­peck­ers and hairy wood­peck­ers. By nest­ing in cav­i­ties, downy wood­peck­ers avoid pre­da­tion of their eggs and young by an­i­mals that can­not get to these cav­i­ties. (Jack­son and Ouel­let, 2002)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Downy wood­peck­ers af­fect the pop­u­la­tions of the in­sects they prey upon and the plants they eat. They also pro­vide valu­able food for their preda­tors. They are host to sev­eral species of body par­a­sites, in­clud­ing hip­po­boscid flies, mus­cid flies and blowflies.

Aban­doned downy wood­pecker nest cav­i­ties may be used by other cav­ity-nest­ing species.

  • Ecosystem Impact
  • creates habitat
Com­men­sal/Par­a­sitic Species

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Downy wood­peck­ers eat wood-bor­ing bee­tle lar­vae and other in­sects that hu­mans con­sider to be pests. (Jack­son and Ouel­let, 2002)

  • Positive Impacts
  • controls pest population

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of downy wood­peck­ers on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Downy wood­pecker pop­u­la­tions seem to be sta­ble and/or in­creas­ing in some areas. There are an es­ti­mated 13,000,000 downy wood­peck­ers world­wide. This species is pro­tected under the U.S. Mi­gra­tory Bird Act. (Jack­son and Ouel­let, 2002)

Con­trib­u­tors

Tanya Dewey (au­thor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Kari Kirschbaum (au­thor, ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Glossary

Nearctic

living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.

World Map

acoustic

uses sound to communicate

agricultural

living in landscapes dominated by human agriculture.

altricial

young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.

arboreal

Referring to an animal that lives in trees; tree-climbing.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

diurnal
  1. active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

monogamous

Having one mate at a time.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

mountains

This terrestrial biome includes summits of high mountains, either without vegetation or covered by low, tundra-like vegetation.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

omnivore

an animal that mainly eats all kinds of things, including plants and animals

oviparous

reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.

polymorphic

"many forms." A species is polymorphic if its individuals can be divided into two or more easily recognized groups, based on structure, color, or other similar characteristics. The term only applies when the distinct groups can be found in the same area; graded or clinal variation throughout the range of a species (e.g. a north-to-south decrease in size) is not polymorphism. Polymorphic characteristics may be inherited because the differences have a genetic basis, or they may be the result of environmental influences. We do not consider sexual differences (i.e. sexual dimorphism), seasonal changes (e.g. change in fur color), or age-related changes to be polymorphic. Polymorphism in a local population can be an adaptation to prevent density-dependent predation, where predators preferentially prey on the most common morph.

riparian

Referring to something living or located adjacent to a waterbody (usually, but not always, a river or stream).

seasonal breeding

breeding is confined to a particular season

sedentary

remains in the same area

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

solitary

lives alone

suburban

living in residential areas on the outskirts of large cities or towns.

tactile

uses touch to communicate

temperate

that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).

territorial

defends an area within the home range, occupied by a single animals or group of animals of the same species and held through overt defense, display, or advertisement

urban

living in cities and large towns, landscapes dominated by human structures and activity.

visual

uses sight to communicate

Ref­er­ences

Jack­son, J., H. Ouel­let. 2002. Downy wood­pecker (Pi­coides pu­bes­cens). Pp. 1-32 in A Poole, F Gill, eds. The Birds of North Amer­ica, Vol. 613. Philadel­phia, PA: The Birds of North Amer­ica, Inc.