A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 first Hairy!

I had a lifer on my deck this afternoon!
We've had many downy woodpeckers over the 13 years we've lived here, but never any hairys. We also have red bellied, northern flickers, and the once in a blue moon pileated woodpecker.

But today was the first visit for a male hairy woodpecker. He mostly sat on the deck railing, and circled in the same spot for a few minutes before trying out the suet feeder. A few other birds landed and scared him away. Hope he comes back soon!

Get a picture if you can, Lynne!

Woodpeckers LOVE the nuts, especially in suet.

My Ruby-Crowned Kinglet was chattering angrily at me yesterday cuz my suet feeder was empty. My wife went right out and got us a bunch of suet cakes.

Mrs. Hairy came back this morning!
WOWZERS - she is SOOOOOOOO much bigger than the downy woodpeckers!

This is the best (bad!) picture I could get with the sun not on the deck yet, and through the window...


There was a "small" hole in the deck railing from where a wood knot was, but the birds have decided that it makes a terrific place to shell their seeds, and the hole has gotten MUCH larger now!

That's not a "bad" pic, Lynne! ...Except her white looks blue is all.

My son has a woodpecker at his place that keeps going after a certain spot on their house! Can't figure out why it's doing that, but how can they get it to stop?

What a great picture Lynne!!!!

Uhhhhhh... maybe feed it at a feeder so it doesn't need to go looking for food in the wood???

Get a can of Pecker-Be-Gone ®. Works every time for me!

That is DEFINITELY a female Hairy. Lynne. Good ID'ing job!