Stats

Lifespan: 1-11 yrs
Size: Small
Diet: Insectivore
Activity: Diurnal
Social: Pair
Biome: Temperate forest
Range: North America
Movement: Flight
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Camouflage
Status: Common

About

The Downy Woodpecker is North America's smallest woodpecker, instantly recognisable by its crisp black-and-white plumage and the male's vivid red nape patch. Its chisel-like bill can drum against bark at over 20 strikes per second to excavate the beetle larvae hidden within.

Life cycle

1.
egg
A clutch of eggs is incubated in the nest, kept warm by a brooding parent until the chicks pip free.
2.
hatchling
A naked or downy hatchling is fed in the nest by its parents.
3.
juvenile
A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest and learns to fly and forage.
4.
adult
Fully grown with adult plumage.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Picidae
Genus: Dryobates
Species: Dryobates pubescens