Photos by Donna

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In the silence of the woods, you suddenly hear the sound of drilling or hammering fill the air.  It’s a good chance you’re hearing a woodpecker busy at work.

Maryland has seven species of woodpeckers.  And right now, they are all very active, busy stashing food in preparation for any future wintry days when pickings may be scarce.

I’ll share them in size order, starting with Maryland’s smallest, the adorable Downy Woodpecker.

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Downy Woodpecker (male, ID’d by red spot on nape)
Length 5.5-6.7 inches (14-17 cm)

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Downy Woodpecker (male)

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Downy male chasing another male away from his gal

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Downy Woodpecker pair

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Very close in looks to the Downy but larger in length is the Hairy Woodpecker.  Its additional ID differences to the Downy is the much larger-looking beak-to-head ratio and lacks the spots along the outer tail feathers.

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Hairy Woodpecker (male, ID’d by red spot on nape)
Length 7.1-10.2 inches (18-26 cm)

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Hairy Woodpecker (male)

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Close in size to the Hairy is the next woodpecker, the beautiful Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

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Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (female, she lacks the red throat)
Length 7.1-8.7 inches (18-22 cm)

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Almost the same size to the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is the next woodpecker, the striking Red-headed Woodpecker.

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Red-headed Woodpecker (both sexes look identical)
Length 7.5-9.1 inches (19-23 cm)

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The next woodpecker also has a lot of red on its head, the Red-bellied Woodpecker.

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Red-bellied Woodpecker (male, ID’d by red crown)
Length 9.4 inches (24 cm)

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Red-bellied Woodpecker (male – see its tongue?)

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Red-bellied Woodpecker (female – lacks red crown, both have red nape)

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Red-bellied Woodpecker (male)

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Red-bellied Woodpecker (male)

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Larger than the Red-bellied Woodpecker and just as pretty, the Northern Flicker.  Our eastern version is the yellow-shafted tail; the western version is red-shafted.

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Northern Flicker (female, ID’d by lack of black mustache)
Length 11.0-12.2 inches (28-31 cm)

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Northern Flicker (female)

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Finally, the last of the seven and the largest of them all, the Pileated Woodpecker.

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Pileated Woodpecker (male, ID’d by red stripe on cheek)
Length 15.8-19.3 inches (40-49 cm)

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Pileated Woodpecker (male)

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I hope you enjoyed this comparison post of Maryland’s seven woodpeckers.  I am fortunate to have all seven local to me.  In fact, most of these photos were taken in my backyard.

Quite interesting, there are a total of 23 woodpecker species in the United States!

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