A few years ago I was alerted to a subtle difference in the head patterns of Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers when I read a short note by Mark Szantyr with a nod to Julian Hough in the journal The Connecticut Warbler. He pointed out that Downy Woodpecker has a larger white patch on the sides of the neck. In the years since then I’ve looked for this feature in the field and in photos, and it seems quite useful.
Downy Woodpecker (left) and Hairy Woodpecker (right). Note differences in the shape and prominence of the white area on the side of the neck - a broad oval on Downy and a relatively uniform band on Hairy. Original gouache and pencil sketch copyright David Sibley.
The shape of these white areas is extremely variable as the neck feathers move around depending on how the head is turned, but most of the time it is easy to see the difference, and watching a bird as it moves for a minute or so will reveal the pattern better than a few photos. The difference arises both because the black band behind the eye narrows sharply on Downy Woodpecker, and also because the black band along the lower jaw doesn’t extend as far back. Viewed from behind both of these differences are apparent.
It’s also important to point out that there is a lot of individual variation in the extent of black in the back of the head. Some individuals of both species have the white eyebrows meeting around the back of the head, while others don’t (as shown here). The full white band may be more frequent in Downy than Hairy Woodpecker, but that needs confirmation.
There is also geographic variation, with both species showing more extensive black all over the head in populations in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific regions. The difference in neck pattern still persists though, even though the white areas on the head are reduced overall.
Check it out, and let me know if it works for you.
Related posts and pages:
- Another clue for identifying Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers In a previous post I wrote about differences in the black-and-white pattern on the neck...
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I saw an interesting Downy Woodpecker last fall–so interesting that I sketched it in a notebook. It had a very white face, so much so that it reminded me of a Red-cockaded Woodpecker (not that I’ve ever seen one…).
Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve, Hillsboro, Oregon, 12 October 2010:
“The face seemed whiter than normal, as if the black ear patch was missing or reduced to a post-ocular stripe.”
This was an immature bird, with a thin black forehead and otherwise fully red crown–which is described for the “Gairdner’s Woodpecker” in Birds of Oregon, Gabrielson and Jewett (1940).
Greg Gillson
Beaverton, Oregon
Also, another feature that can be useful in separating the two in male plumage is the red on the nape: in Downy it’s whole across the nape, but in Hairy, it’s split down the middle by a black stripe (connecting the black crown and lower neck).
Hi Dan, Thanks for the comment. I haven’t looked at this nape pattern systematically, but it seems to be pretty variable, both individually and regionally. Maybe that’s because I’ve always lumped males and females together. I’m curious to know if you have observed that male Downys always have a solid red nape, and male Hairys always broken? And also if you think it applies continent-wide.
And of course I’d also be interested to hear from anyone else who has anything to add on this point.
Hi again David,
Since I first noticed this feature, I have paid attention to it when I see Downies and Hairies in new sites. Throughout the East (from New England to the Gulf of Mexico), this pattern seems to hold consistently. Out West, my experience is much more limited (and is primarily in the northern Rockies there), but the times I’ve been able to check, it holds as well. I’ve noted that Hairies in the mountains of southern Mexico and Central America may not show the black divider, but my experience with these birds is very limited indeed.
Unfortunately, specimens are not helpful in trying to see this pattern, as woodpeckers have heads too large to fit through their necks (when skinning them out), so the common practice has been to slice the back of the head to remove the cranium, then sew it up again as the specimen is prepared. As a result, the nape feathers on specimens are not “natural” in their appearance.
In some respects, I suspect that this slight difference in red nape marks, and the facial markings you mention in the body of this post, are interesting clues to the history of convergence in plumages of these two species. Molecular phylogenies have (if memory serves) shown that Downy’s closest relative is Ladder-backed, and Hairy’s is Arizona Woodpecker. Vocally, this makes sense. Thus, even though Downies and Hairies are very similar to one another, this similarity is the result of convergence on a common plumage pattern (and this similarity is, interestingly, maintained geographically where the two coexist: duskier with fewer spots in the Pacific Northwest, whiter with fewer spots in the Rockies, and whiter with more spots in the East). So the question is: why the apparent plumage mimicry?
Perhaps birders out there, particularly in the West, can comment more on the variation (or lack thereof) of this red nape-spot pattern within Downies and Hairies?
Good birding!