Downy Woodpecker - Ross Feldner Sometimes bigger isn’t better and that’s certainly the case with this diminutive woodpecker that is fairly common across America. Its small size gives it an advantage over its larger and heavier woodpecker cousins by allowing it to forage where they can’t. Downy Woodpeckers can look for food on slender branches, shrubs and even weeds! They have other clever strategies for getting an easy meal such as following larger woodpeckers and finding insects they might have overlooked. They also have been seen following White-breasted Nuthatches to their seed caches and making off with the goods. Downy Woodpeckers love to eat bugs. Insects make up more than 75% of their diet. They are very fond of insects considered threats to trees such as the Elm Bark Beetle that spreads Dutch Elm Disease and the Emerald Ash Borer. Noted naturalist Edward Forbush called this familiar backyard bird a "model of patient industry and perseverance." | |
