Wild Facts About The Downy Woodpecker

Quick Facts About Downy Woodpeckers

Scientific Name	Dryobates pubescens
Common Name(s)	Downy Woodpecker, Tommy Woodpecker
Animal Type	Land Bird
Diet	Plant-boring insects, seeds. Visits backyard suet and black oil sunflower bird feeders.
Found	Woodlands, gardens, forested city parks, orchards.
Description	6 inches (15 cm). Small, sparrow-sized bird. Males have a bright red patch on the back of their heads that females lack. Both sexes have black and white spotted wings and tails, a black eye stripe and beak, a white stripe down their backs, and all-white bellies. NOTE: Downy Woodpeckers look almost exactly like Hairy Woodpeckers (Leuconotopicus villosus). Both species are found in North Carolina and can be hard to tell apart in the wild. Compared to Hairy Woodpeckers, Downy Woodpeckers are smaller overall, have smaller, stubbier beaks, and have dark bars on their outer tail feathers.

Downy Woodpecker Images

Downy Woodpecker. Dryobates pubescens. Bird. Photograph taken by the author. Copyright © 2025 Now I Wonder. All rights reserved.

Fun Facts About Downy Woodpeckers

Downy Woodpeckers Capitalize On Being Small

The Downy Woodpecker is the smallest woodpecker species in North Carolina.
They take advantage of being so small by targeting food sources in small spaces for which larger birds, like the Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus), are just too big.
One the Downy Woodpecker’s favorite winter foods is the larvae of Goldenrod Gall Flies.
- Female Goldenrod Gall Flies lay their eggs one at a time on goldenrod stems during summer. After the eggs hatch, each fly larva burrows into its stem and starts chewing up the plant. The plants retaliate by forming galls; hard, spherical swellings in the goldenrod stem about the size of a marble.
- As winter approaches, the larvae chew a tunnel toward the surface of the gall, but stop short of breaking out completely, then retreat into the center of their galls to wait for spring.
- Downy Woodpeckers are small and light enough to land on goldenrod stems. The birds tap the galls with their hard, but sensitive beaks, locate the subsurface tunnels, then peck at the galls until they reach the hidden larvae.

Downy Woodpeckers And Winter Weight Gain

Downy Woodpeckers don’t store food for the winter months, like some other birds such as the Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata). They must actively forage for their food and seem to gain a little bit of weight to sustain themselves when food is more scarce.
- In a study on seasonal body weight changes in five woodpecker species, scientists found that Downy Woodpeckers’ body weight changed by approximately 3 – 5% (Koenig et al. 2005, https://doi.org/10.1093/condor/107.4.810).
  - The male Downy Woodpeckers studied weight approximately 25 grams in July and approximately 29 grams in December (Koenig et al. 2005, https://doi.org/10.1093/condor/107.4.810).

Downy Woodpeckers Totally Rock As Drummers

Both male and female Downy Woodpeckers “drum” by pecking repeatedly and in distinct rhythm on resonant trees and hollow logs.
- The birds brace their stiff tail feathers against the wood then rapidly drive their sharp, strong beaks up and down into the wood repeatedly.
- Downy Woodpeckers, like all woodpeckers, have special skulls that are reinforced with thick bone. Their skull structure protects their brain from the repeated impact caused by drumming.
- Male and female Downy Woodpeckers establish favorite drumming sites, and the bursts of rapid pecking turn into duets as they alternate periods of drumming and listening.
Both sexes in a potential mating pair must agree on the nest hole site. If the two Downy Woodpeckers can’t agree on the same tree into which to drill their nest hole, the birds may not successfully breed (Stokes and Stokes 1983).
- Full agreement on the part of both Downy Woodpeckers in a mated pair is of the utmost importance because:
  - Males chip out the majority of the nest hole by repeatedly chiseling bits of wood away to form the hole.
  - Male Downy Woodpeckers defend the territory around their chosen nest site aggressively, often against much larger, dangerous predators as well as rival males.
Males provide most of the brooding (Tekiela 2001).

The Not-So-Good-As-Neighbors Side Of Downy Woodpeckers

Downy Woodpeckers Vs. Homeowners

Downy Woodpeckers cause a lot of damage to homes and buildings in areas where they are abundant because they can drill holes in siding for their nests.
These birds can also drive homeowners absolutely crazy by drumming repeatedly on their houses.
A study that researched the effectiveness of various types of non-lethal woodpecker deterrents (Downy Woodpeckers, like all North American birds except for the Feral Pigeon and European Starling, are protected by the Federal Migratory Bird Act) found that:
- In 1997, damage to American homes caused by woodpeckers drilling and drumming totaled $300 on average.
- Three-hundred ninety four out of 1,185 homes (33.2%) visited in the Ithaca, New York area had either property damage or nuisance noise activity caused by woodpeckers.
- Downy Woodpeckers seemed to prefer drumming and drilling earth-toned homes.
  - All 16 homes with active woodpecker damage selected for their research were earth-toned; 75% were stained and 25% were painted.
- The woodpeckers seemed to avoid houses located in open, grassy areas with few or no shade trees (Harding, Curtis, and Vehrencamp 2007, https://doi.org/10.2193/2006-491).

Downy Woodpeckers Take The Easy Road To Nesting

One possible reason why houses are so often damaged by Downy Woodpeckers is that Downy Woodpeckers need softer substrates for their nest sites than other cavity-nesting birds.
- In a study that assessed whether tree hardness influences nest-tree selection, scientists found that:
  - Downy Woodpeckers built their nests 14.9 ± 0.62 m high in Quaking Aspens (Populus tremuloides),
  - The hardness of the nest trees decreased with height,
  - The trees were softest at the height of the nests,
  - Downy Woodpeckers used existing holes more than the other species studied and chose softer trees than their look-alike Hairy Woodpecker cousins,
  - The studied birds seem to choose “both a height of tree that is particularly soft and trees that are softer than randomly available” (Schepps, Lohr, and Martin 1999, https://doi.org/10.2307/4089327).
- It may be just American’s bad luck to have houses that are softer and easier to drill into than wild trees.

Christine

Christine is the creator and author of NowIWonder.com, a website dedicated to the animals and plants that share our world, and the science that helps us understand them. Inspired by lifelong exploration and learning, Christine loves to share her knowledge with others who want to connect with wild faces and wild spaces.

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