This baby showed up at our feeders. He looks like a Hairy but his red spot is in the wrong place. He is not as small as a downy but not quite as big as a hairy. He also has the shape of a red headed woodpecker. Not sure what he is. Any suggestions. ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden )
Offhand, it is probably a juvenile Northern Three-toed Woodpecker. Their crown when mature will be more yellow. The Black Three-toed Woodpecker has an orange crown. They are both about the same size, I have never seen a juvenile Black Three-toed. They are also the same size as a Hairy Woodpecker, 8 1/2" to 9." Jerry
Thank you for the great guess. But I don't think it is one. After looking in my bird book again for the umpteenth time. I think it is a young Yellow Bellied Sapsucker. We have seen the adults around on occasion. Again thanks Jerry.
According to the description of the Yellowbellied Sapsucker on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yell ... psucker/id The Juvenile should have a black and a white marking running down the wing from shoulder, the head markings are so pale they are sometimes almost invisible and they have more brownish color than black. The American Three-toed Woodpecker does have a yellow cap that is smaller than the adult....but the Cornell Range Map doesn't include Wisconsin as part of their habitat, but one might have veered a little south at some point. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Amer ... dpecker/id I think counting the toes could help choose between the two.
Sojerd: from looking at the pictures of the links sent in one of the above post about the Nuttall's woodpecker. It sure looks like that is what it is. But it is not suppose to be in Wis. I will have to see how many toes it does have. I'll let everyone know. Thanks,
Well I just looked at some of the other pic's I have of him. Yup, he only has three toes. Mystery solved. We not have 4 different types of woodpeckers coming to our feeders. I am soooo excited to have them grace our yard. Thanks all for your great input. Have a super weekend.
I put out suet cakes all year mostly for woodpeckers and have a half dozen different ones show up on a regular basis. I rotate the suet content just for variety. Jerry
Re: Well I was wrong about how many toes he has. Hi all: well this morning the young woodpecker that I thought I had ID as a Three Toed actually have 4 toes. I got a really good look at him while he was on our hanging feeder in our front window. So I am back to square one. I think I will just call him a weird colored Hairy Woodpecker.
