Downy woodpecker

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Downy woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker01.jpg
Male
FemaleDownyWoodpecker.jpg
Female
A Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) drumming in Roberts Bird Sanctuary, Minneapolis, Minnesota. A second, distant woodpecker drumming in response and other birds, including an American Robin and a Red-winged Blackbird, can be heard in the background.
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Picidae
Genus: Dryobates
Species:
D. pubescens
Binomial name
Dryobates pubescens
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Dryobates pubescens map.svg
Approximate distribution map
  Year-round
Synonyms
  • Picus pubescensLinnaeus, 1766
  • Picoides pubescens(Linnaeus, 1766)

The downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) is a species of woodpecker, the smallest in North America. Length ranges from 14 to 18 cm (5.5 to 7.1 in). Downy woodpeckers primarily live in forested areas throughout the United States and Canada, with the exception of deserts in the southwest and the northern tundra. The bird nests in tree cavities and feeds primarily on insects, although it supplements its diet with seeds and berries. The downy woodpecker is very similar in appearance to the hairy woodpecker, although they are not closely related.

Taxonomy

The downy woodpecker was described and illustrated with a hand-coloured plate by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in his The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, which was published between 1729 and 1732. [2] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he included the downy woodpecker, coined the binomial name Picus pubescens and cited Catesby's book. [3] The specific epithet pubescens is the Latin for "pubescent" or "downy". [4] Linnaeus specified the type locality as America septentrionali (North America) but the locality is now restricted to South Carolina. [5] The downy woodpecker was usually placed in either Dendrocopos or Picoides , but a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2015 found that these genera did not form monophyletic groups. [6] In the revised generic classification, the downy woodpecker was placed with four other species in the resurrected genus Dryobates , that had been erected in 1826 by the German naturalist Friedrich Boie with the downy woodpecker as the type species. [7] [8] Within the genus, the downy woodpecker is sister to a clade containing Nuttall's woodpecker (Dryobates nuttalli) and the ladder-backed woodpecker (Dryobates scalaris). [9]

Despite their close resemblance, the downy and hairy woodpeckers are not very closely related; the outward similarity is an example of convergent evolution. Why they evolved this way cannot be explained with confidence; it may be relevant that the species exploit rather different-sized foodstuffs and do not compete very much ecologically. [10] [11]

Seven subspecies are recognized: [8]

Description

The female lacks the red patch on the back of the head Downy Woodpecker02.jpg
The female lacks the red patch on the back of the head

Adult downy woodpeckers are the smallest of North America's woodpeckers, but there are many smaller species elsewhere, especially the piculets. The total length of the species ranges from 14 to 18 cm (5.5 to 7.1 in) and the wingspan from 25 to 31 cm (9.8 to 12.2 in). Body mass ranges from 20 to 33 g (0.71 to 1.16 oz). Standard measurements are as follows: the wing chord is 8.5–10 cm (3.3–3.9 in), the tail is 4–6 cm (1.6–2.4 in), the bill is 1–1.8 cm (0.39–0.71 in) and the tarsus is 1.1–1.7 cm (0.43–0.67 in). [12] [13] [14] The downy woodpecker is mainly black on the upperparts and wings, with a white back, throat and belly and white spotting on the wings. There is one white bar above the eye, and one below. They have a black tail with white outer feathers barred with black. Adult males have a red patch on the back of the head whereas juvenile birds display a red cap.

The downy woodpecker is virtually identical in plumage pattern to the larger hairy woodpecker, but it can be distinguished from the hairy by the presence of black spots on its white tail feathers and the length of its bill. The downy woodpecker's bill is shorter than its head, whereas the hairy woodpecker's bill is approximately equal to head length.

The downy woodpecker gives a number of vocalizations, including a short pik call. One may identify the woodpecker by the pik-call, counting half a second between piks (a total of four must be heard). The rattle-call is a short burst that sounds similar to a bouncing ball, while that of the hairy woodpecker is a shorter burst of the same amplitude. Like other woodpeckers, it also produces a drumming sound (sounds like four taps [15] ) with its beak as it pecks into trees. Its drums are slower compared to other North American species. [16]

Behavior and ecology

Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg
Drumming
A downy woodpecker drumming in Minnesota. A distant woodpecker drumming in response, and other birds, can be heard in the background.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Downy woodpeckers are native to forested areas, mainly deciduous, of North America. Their range consists of most of the United States and Canada, except for the deserts of the southwest and the tundra of the north. Mostly permanent residents, northern birds may migrate further south; birds in mountainous areas may move to lower elevations. [17]

Downy woodpeckers nest in a tree cavity excavated by the nesting pair in a dead tree or limb. In the winter, they roost in tree cavities. They tend to nest near soft snags, [18] where the wood is softer and the inner heartwood of the tree can be accessed more easily. The woodpecker will form a nest cavity in the softer heartwood, and its nest will be protected by the outer portion of the tree. This portion is made up of harder sapwood, which serves as protection from the elements and predators. [19] Heartwood is often softer in dead or decayed trees, as a result, the number of dead trees in a forest and downy woodpeckers habitats are positively correlated in studies. [18] Downy woodpeckers prefer to nest in areas with ample light, leading them to favor trees with broader leaves, such as poplars, birches, and ashes, or forest openings and edges. [20]

Downy woodpeckers forage on trees, picking the bark surface in summer and digging deeper in winter. They mainly eat insects, but they also feed on seeds and berries. [21] They are a natural predator of the European corn borer, a moth that costs the US agriculture industry more than $1 billion annually in crop losses and population control. [22] [23] In winter, especially, downy woodpeckers can often be found in suburban backyards with mature trees where they feed on suet and shelled peanuts provided by mesh birdfeeders.

Breeding

Downy woodpeckers will start breeding in their first possible season and will return to a site within 2 hectares of where they were born. [20] They breed every year of their mature life, possibly returning to the same nest holes that they used in years prior. Barring the presence of an existing hole, downy woodpeckers will create a cavity in a tree roughly 2.4 to 15.3 m (8 to 50 ft) above the ground, [18] with the male woodpecker pecking the hole for roughly half of the daylight hours, in 20 minute work sessions. The nest hole takes about two or three weeks to create, and normally measures 12 to 15 cm wide and about 20 to 30 cm deep. [20]

A female will typically lay 4-5 white eggs, but can lay up to 7. During waking hours, both birds will incubate, or warm the eggs for 15 minute periods, taking turns in alternating shifts. At night, the male woodpecker typically will rest on the eggs for their continued warmth. This incubation period lasts for about 12 days. When the eggs hatch, the infant woodpeckers weigh about 1.6 grams, which will rise to around 3.2 grams over the course of its first day of life. They will appear fully grown by the 17th or 18th day. [20]

These younger birds are demarcated by tinted red crowns for the males, and striped or white dotted crowns for the females. Eventually, these crowns will turn jet black after they finish moulting in summer. The young males will also gain a bright red dot on the back of their head once they reach adulthood. The adult birds will begin to moult earlier than their young. This process starts when their young still occupy the nest, ultimately culminating with replacement of the two strongest, central feathers. These feathers are maintained to retain the bird's climbing power during the two month moult period. When the moulting ends in September, their plumage will have a slight yellow tinge. [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Picinae</span> Subfamily of birds

Picinae containing the true woodpeckers is one of four subfamilies that make up the woodpecker family Picidae. True woodpeckers are found over much of the world, but do not occur in Madagascar or Australasia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great spotted woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The great spotted woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker with pied black and white plumage and a red patch on the lower belly. Males and young birds also have red markings on the neck or head. This species is found across the Palearctic including parts of North Africa. Across most of its range it is resident, but in the north some will migrate if the conifer cone crop fails. Some individuals have a tendency to wander, leading to the recolonisation of Ireland in the first decade of the 21st century and to vagrancy to North America. Great spotted woodpeckers chisel into trees to find food or excavate nest holes, and also drum for contact and territorial advertisement; like other woodpeckers, they have anatomical adaptations to manage the physical stresses from the hammering action. This species is similar to the Syrian woodpecker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European green woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The European green woodpecker is a large green woodpecker with a bright red crown and a black moustache. Males have a red centre to the moustache stripe which is absent in females. It is resident across much of Europe and the western Palearctic but in Spain and Portugal it is replaced by the similar Iberian green woodpecker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodpecker</span> Family of birds (Picidae)

Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme polar regions. Most species live in forests or woodland habitats, although a few species are known that live in treeless areas, such as rocky hillsides and deserts, and the Gila woodpecker specialises in exploiting cacti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pileated woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The pileated woodpecker is a large, mostly black woodpecker native to North America. An insectivore, it inhabits deciduous forests in eastern North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the Pacific Coast. It is the largest confirmed extant woodpecker species in North America, with the possible exception of the ivory-billed woodpecker, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed be reclassified as extinct. It is also the third largest species of woodpecker in the world, after the great slaty woodpecker and the black woodpecker. "Pileated" refers to the bird's prominent red crest, from the Latin pileatus meaning "capped".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern flicker</span> Member of the woodpecker family

The northern flicker or common flicker is a medium-sized bird of the woodpecker family. It is native to most of North America, parts of Central America, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands, and is one of the few woodpecker species that migrate. Over 100 common names for the northern flicker are known, including yellowhammer, clape, gaffer woodpecker, harry-wicket, heigh-ho, wake-up, walk-up, wick-up, yarrup, and gawker bird. Many of these names derive from attempts to imitate some of its calls. It is the state bird of Alabama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-bellied sapsucker</span> Species of North American bird

The yellow-bellied sapsucker is a medium-sized woodpecker that breeds in Canada and the northeastern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-headed woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The red-headed woodpecker is a mid-sized woodpecker found in temperate North America. Its breeding habitat is open country across southern Canada and the east-central United States. It is rated as least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of Endangered species, having been down-listed from near threatened in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hairy woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The hairy woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker that is found over a large area of North America. It is approximately 250 mm (9.8 in) in length with a 380 mm (15 in) wingspan. With an estimated population in 2020 of almost nine million individuals, the hairy woodpecker is listed by the IUCN as a species of least concern. Some nomenclature authorities, such as the eBird/Clements checklist, place this species in the genus Dryobates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-backed woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The black-backed woodpecker, also known as the Arctic three-toed woodpecker, is a medium-sized woodpecker inhabiting the forests of North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurasian three-toed woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The Eurasian three-toed woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker that is found from northern Europe across northern Asia to Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-bellied woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The red-bellied woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker of the family Picidae. It breeds mainly in the eastern United States, ranging as far south as Florida and as far north as Canada. Though it has a vivid orange-red crown and nape it is not to be confused with the red-headed woodpecker, a separate species of woodpecker in the same genus with an entirely red head and neck that sports a solid black back and white belly. The red-bellied earns its name from the pale reddish blush of its lower underside.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater flameback</span> Species of bird

The greater flameback, also known as the greater goldenback or large golden-backed woodpecker, is a woodpecker species. It occurs widely in the northern Indian subcontinent, eastwards to southern China, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, western and central Java and northeast Borneo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-cockaded woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The red-cockaded woodpecker is a woodpecker endemic to the southeastern United States. It is a federally endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-headed woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The white-headed woodpecker is a non-migratory woodpecker that resides in pine forests of the mountains of western North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ladder-backed woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The ladder-backed woodpecker is a North American woodpecker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuttall's woodpecker</span> Species of bird

Nuttall's woodpecker is a species of woodpecker named after naturalist Thomas Nuttall in 1843. They are found in oak woodlands of California and are similar to the ladder-backed woodpecker in both genetics and appearance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American three-toed woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The American three-toed woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker, which is native to North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Striped woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The striped woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoky-brown woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The smoky-brown woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2016). "Dryobates pubescens". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22681155A92894756. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22681155A92894756.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Catesby, Mark (1729–1732). The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. Vol. 1. London: W. Innys and R. Manby. p. 21, Plate 21.
  3. ↑ Linnaeus, Carl (1766). Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (12th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 175.
  4. ↑ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . London: Christopher Helm. p.  323. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  5. ↑ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1948). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 6. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 211.
  6. ↑ Fuchs, J.; Pons, J.M. (2015). "A new classification of the pied woodpeckers assemblage (Dendropicini, Picidae) based on a comprehensive multi-locus phylogeny". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 88: 28–37. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.03.016. PMID   25818851.
  7. ↑ Boie, Friedrich (1826). "Generalübersicht". Isis von Oken (in German). 18–19. Jena. Col 977.
  8. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (2020). "Woodpeckers". IOC World Bird List Version 10.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  9. ↑ Shakya, S.B.; Fuchs, J.; Pons, J.-M.; Sheldon, F.H. (2017). "Tapping the woodpecker tree for evolutionary insight". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 116: 182–191. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2017.09.005 . PMID   28890006.
  10. ↑ Moore, W.S.; Weibel, A.C.; Agius, A. (2006). "Mitochondrial DNA phylogeny of the woodpecker genus Veniliornis (Picidae, Picinae) and related genera implies convergent evolution of plumage patterns". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 87 (4): 611–624. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2006.00586.x .
  11. ↑ Weibel, Amy C.; Moore, William S. (2005). "Plumage convergence in Picoides woodpeckers based on a molecular phylogeny, with emphasis on convergence in downy and hairy woodpeckers". The Condor. 107 (4): 797–809. doi: 10.1093/condor/107.4.797 .
  12. ↑ Woodpeckers: An Identification Guide to the Woodpeckers of the World by Hans Winkler, David A. Christie & David Nurney. Houghton Mifflin (1995), ISBN   978-0-395-72043-1
  13. ↑ Downy woodpecker Species Account
  14. ↑ Downy Woodpecker, Life History, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
  15. ↑ Oklahoma City Community College and Cornell
  16. ↑ Sibley, David Allen (2000). The Sibley Guide to Birds. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p.  312. ISBN   978-0-679-45122-8.
  17. ↑ Campbell, R. Wayne; Dawe, Neil K.; McTaggart-Cowan, Ian (1997-01-01). Birds of British Columbia Volume 2 : Nonpasserines : Diurnal Birds of Prey Through Woodpeckers. Vancouver, BC, CAN: UBC Press. ISBN   9780774856355.[ permanent dead link ]
  18. 1 2 3 Schroeder, Richard (April 1983). "Habitat Suitability Index Models: Downy Woodpecker" (PDF). Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  19. ↑ Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. "Snags – The Wildlife Tree: The Importance of Snags in Your Neighborhood" (PDF). Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 Government of Canada, Public Services and Procurement Canada. "Information archivée dans le Web" (PDF). publications.gc.ca. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
  21. ↑ "Downy Woodpecker | Audubon Field Guide". Audubon. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  22. ↑ "The European Corn Borer | The European Corn Borer". www.ent.iastate.edu. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  23. ↑ "European corn borer - Ostrinia nubilalis (Hubner)". entnemdept.ufl.edu. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
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