The hairy woodpecker

Sometimes it is hard to know whether you are looking at a downy woodpecker or a hairy woodpecker unless you see them side by side. Hairy woodpeckers have larger bills and larger, stouter bodies—closer to the size of a robin. Like downy woodpeckers, male hairy woodpeckers have a patch of red feathers on the back of their head. Hairy woodpeckers may be more readily seen on the trunks of trees than the smaller branches preferred by downy woodpeckers. If you are lucky enough to hear or see a large pileated woodpecker, you may see a hairy woodpecker nearby, waiting to gobble up the smaller insects the pileated woodpecker leaves behind.