Length: About 9½ inches; nearly ? larger than the Downy, whom he resembles almost identically as to general appearance, except in SIZE.
Male: Black and white above; white underneath; broad white stripe down the middle of the back; head with black and white stripes, a red patch at the back, and bristles at the bill; wings black, with white stripes and bars; tail black, with white outside feathers; the absence of black flecks on the tail-feathers and the larger size of the bird distinguishes the Hairy from the Downy.
Female: Like male, except for the absence of a red patch on the head.
Note: A loud, shrill call, difficult to imitate or to reproduce on paper for identification. The Hairy also “drums” on the boughs of trees; it has no real song.
Habitat: Tree-trunks in woodlands, rather than in orchards or gardens, though I have noticed these woodpeckers in winter frequenting the trees of village streets without shyness or fear. During the breeding season, they remain in secluded spots in the woods.
Range: Three species of the Hairy Woodpecker may be found in Canada and the United States; the NORTHERN HAIRY WOODPECKER, the HAIRY WOODPECKER, and the SOUTHERN HAIRY WOODPECKER. The northern species lives in the tree-zone of Canada, and is the largest of the three; the Hairy, next in size, may be found in the United States from Colorado, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, to the middle and northern parts of the Eastern States. The Southern Hairy, the smallest of the three, is a resident of our southern section.
The Hairy Woodpecker is so like his small Downy relative in appearance and habits that his characteristics are not usually dwelt upon; he is like an older neglected cousin of a baby upon whom much attention is lavished.
But he is very worth while attracting. He is as untiring as the Downy in his quest for beetles, his favorite kind of tree-food; he is also a lover of ants and other “borers.” His longer bill enables him to reach many that the Downy cannot. One Hairy Woodpecker alone saved an entire orchard that had become infested with “borers.” One tree had died before he began his rescue-work, but he saved all the others.[40]
He likes the caterpillars of the cecropia and gypsy moths. He eats much vegetable food, especially during the winter; he has been known to take an occasional bite of the soft inner bark of trees and a drink of sap which he has well earned. Like the Downy, he will eat suet in the winter season.
Mr. Forbush writes: “While this bird often excavates a hole for winter shelter, it sometimes sleeps exposed on a tree-trunk. Mr. Bailey and I once watched one that slept for many winter nights on the north side of a tree trunk in a thick grove. It attached its claws to the bark and went to sleep in much the same position in which it ordinarily climbed the tree. It invariably went to the same tree at night, and was found in the same place at daylight every morning.”[40]
