Hi all Thorny is going to like this one! Here is a male downy and a male hairy woodpecker. Thorny will tell you other stuff. But that hairy sure has some big feet!

WOW - THAT IS FANTASTIC, Jane!!!

I've never seen the two together - it really helps to see the difference in size! We only get the downys here, but I have some regulars that are really fun to watch!

Lynne, Thanks I am addicted to watching the birds! You guys all talk about being addicted to this place - that can't happen to me - I already have a conflicting addiction

Woodpeckers look so silly hopping down trees!

We have a lot of the same backyard jems - do you have white-breasted nuthatches and carolina wrens? I think those two are the most consistently delightful birds (in my backyard). They are total busy bodies.

yes, we have the nuthatches and a few wrens - not sure which ones? I must say though, that they are NOT my favorite birds. One spring, I foolishly put a birdhouse just outside our bedroom window. The wrens took it over, and started their very loud call each day just before sunrise. OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER - stop the insanity!!! Then... the male would go to the other side of the house where the feeders are on the deck, and scream his song/call ALL DAY LONG!!! I tell you... it drove me insane that entire summer. Even after I took the birdhouse down, he would just sit there and scream alllllllllllllll day long! Ask any of my friends or family members - I was possessed by that wren! I couldn't talk on the phone - he was too loud! I couldn't sleep later than 4:30a.m. - he was too loud. I couldn't nap - he was too loud!!!

Really, I do love my birds, but that one had to go!

Great picture Jane

Thanks Penny, Anytime you click as many as I do you are bound to get lucky! Thank goodness for the digital age.

Lynne, that is too funny! Carolina wrens talk a lot! "cheezeburger cheezeburger cheeze" all day long. I bet that was a house wren bugging you, though. But, I am sure it drove you nuts! Birds can be persistent little boogers.

You got that call just right!!!
ACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCK - thanks for reminding me! :p

Ya know what they say, "big feet, big...... "

Jane has done a GREAT job with that picture showing the Downy and The Hairy MALES side by side for an EASY comparison. Unless you see them together, it can be near IMPOSSIBLE to tell them apart.

The best way way to tell what you have is the length of the bill in comparison to the length of the REST of the head. In the Downy's case, the bill is about 1/3 the length of the head. The Hairy, on the other hand, has a bill that is 3/4 to almost 100% the length of the head.

In body size, the Hairy is almost 50% larger than the Downy. Otherwise the two birds are IDENTICAL.

If you have a very big Downy with a LONG bill, it's NOT a Downy; It's a Hairy!