Chubs: Well Daisy what identification helper
are we making for the humans today?
Daisy: The 7 woodpeckers of the DMV!
Including how to tell a hairy woodpecker
from a downy woodpecker.
Chubs: Okay…but why are there woodpeckers
in the Department of Motor Vehicles?
Daisy: No, no, no. DMV – The D.C., Maryland and Virginia area.
Chubs: Ah that makes more sense.
And what is this? Our third video now!
Wow...Koaw’s a biologist
yet he has us two, a gorgeous groundhog
and a tiny, itty-bitty chipmunk,
making his wildlife videos.
And Koaw isn’t even in the DMV right now.
He’s off in Wisconsin or something researching fishes.
Well Koaw has captured video
of the seven woodpeckers of the DMV
for us to see.
So we’re back to more flying dinosaurs…
except woodpeckers have some super serious issues.
Woodpeckers are always banging their heads on trees
in some twisted form of self-punishment.
Like seriously, we get it
you had a bad day.
No need to bang your head on things.
Whatever…just play the bumper.
[ ♪ bumper music ♪ ] [ Chubs mimicking bumper music ]
I just can’t help myself that's so great.
Fine Daisy—I will use Koaw’s notes.
Give me a break.
So here we have a northern flicker
with that distinct spotted breast.
Here on the East Coast
we only get the yellow-shafted northern flicker subspecies group.
The red-shafted subspecies group is westerly.
Yellow coloration is found on the undersides
of the flight feathers of the yellow-shafted flickers.
Daisy show ‘em a photo.
See—yellow.
[ northern flicker calling ]
Wow…that dude is chatty.
The back of this species is a tannish-gray with black barring.
[ flicker drumming ]
And there he goes in his self-punishment
banging his head on the tree.
Drumming? Is he in a woodpecker rock band?
Marking territory and communication…
Right on!
So he is like Tweeting to everyone in the woods.
I don’t know...
I just know it’s a thing people do to communicate.
Anyways…you’ve already noticed this subspecies
has a very cool red nape—
looks like a v on this dude.
The males have that black whisker mark
while the females do not have that black marking.
Sooo...in Koaw’s notes
it says that there are two subspecies
of the northern flicker
that have overlapping ranges in our area.
The northern yellow-shafted flicker
and the southeastern yellow-shafted flicker.
The two subspecies are essentially identical
in coloration and patterning but differ in size.
The northern yellow-shafted flicker is larger
but here near the range overlap
it can be impractical to ID them
to a subspecies level
as they often interbreed.
Alright next pecker please!
Ah, the smallest and most commonly seen
woodpecker around the DMV:
the downy woodpecker.
And wow…she is really punishing herself—
banging her head on that tree branch.
Okay, jeeze Daisy—I was just messing with you on that one.
For real? She’s looking for insects as food in a tree branch?
You can’t be the narrator—
—nobody understands the words
from your squeaky little voice.
Umm…yeah it’s pretty squeaky.
So anyways...is this one looking for food too?
Termites...yummm...
Ha, look at that northern cardinal crashing the shot.
Sheesh…that woodpecker probably has to eat
a hundred of those just to get a good meal.
Ha, look there’s a termite running away.
Run little guy, before she sees you!
Oh and it’s easy to tell the lady downy woodpeckers
from the fellas
as the males will have a patch of red
on the back of the head
and the females won’t have the red.
Alright Daisy—go to the hairy woodpecker.
This species looks very much like
a downy woodpecker.
But once you’ve seen enough hairy peckers
it’s easy to identify ‘em.
Yeah…I’ve seen plenty of hairy peckers in my day.
What’s got you giggling all of a sudden?
I will continue…you’re being weird.
Anyways…just like with the downy woodpecker
the females don’t have red on the head
and the males do.
And Daisy let’s do some side-by-side comparisons
against the downy.
The hairy woodpecker is a larger species
than the downy woodpecker.
So a hairy woodpecker
is usually like the size of 2 of Daisy,
or 2 eastern chipmunks
and a downy is usually only
a bit bigger than a chipmunk.
Also, the hairy woodpecker
has a longer bill relative to the head size
while the downy has a shorter bill
relative to the head size.
And finally, to be super sure—
just look for black spots on the tail feathers.
Hairy woodpeckers do not have these spots
and downy woodpeckers do have black spots.
Sometimes you’ll see these two species
foraging together and the size-difference
is ever so apparent.
Alright, the red-bellied woodpecker
that doesn’t really have that red of a belly…
Ha, Daisy rewind and pause on the jumper there.
See…it’s just like a poof of red on the belly.
The head is really the most outstanding
red part of the body
but there is already a woodpecker
called the red-headed woodpecker that we’ll get to.
The backside of a red-bellied woodpecker
has a distinct black and white stripe pattern.
That makes me dizzy staring at it—oh my goodness!
This one surfing the branches in the wind
is not helping me focus.
Daisy go to a still comparison of a male and female.
How does Koaw not have footage of a female?
Alright, well wildlife photographer Ed Hass
said we could use some of his images.
Nice guy.
So males have a red head.
The crown and the nape are red.
While the females only really have
the fully red nape
and the crown remains white.
I think we got it. Let’s move along.
Didn’t we already cover a pileated woodpecker
in our first episode?
True.
The pileated woodpecker is the
largest woodpecker species in the DMV
about the same size as a crow.
The large size and super cool red-Mohawk
are the easiest features to examine
for distinguishing this species from the other woodpeckers around here.
Also that solid black back
is a distinguishing feature.
The males have a red-whisker
while that marking is black on the females.
This dude has some serious itches.
I don’t think I could preen 50 feet up in a tree.
I don’t have to respond to that.
There’s some great footage of pileated
in that first episode we did
but let's go to #6.
Count yourself fortunate to see
a red-headed woodpecker
in the urban and even suburban areas.
Koaw has only captured one on video
in Northern Virginia.
As you can see, it has a dark red head.
Compared to the red-bellied woodpecker,
you can see the color of red is much different
and the red-headed woodpecker’s head
is covered in the red.
Hey Daisy,
does Koaw have a shot of its back?
It’s okay—Koaw gave me his password
to buy some stock images.
Let’s see—
just toss ‘em up as I send ‘em to ya.
So the backside of the red-headed woodpecker
is split with a white bottom and black top.
Next photo.
Here we see they have a poof of
yellowish orange on the belly.
And the juveniles
won’t yet have that red-head quite yet.
K, next photo.
And here we have a gorilla having a great time.
Alright next photo.
And here we have an amazingly captivating storyteller.
Those are like your distant cousins Daisy.
Hey, he gave me his password..
.ust go to the next one.
Ah…now that looks like true love right there.
Koaw wouldn’t fire us—we work for free!
Just one more.
And that’s Koaw as a boy.
Ha, no...but I had you thinking
it was Koaw for a moment.
Okay…let’s move to the last woodpecker.
Alright, the yellow-bellied sapsucker
And indeed this guy
has a bunch of sapwells that he is tapping
--all those holes in the tree that he
and other woodpeckers have drilled.
He’s going for the sugary sap
and any insects he finds along the way.
Yellow-bellied sapsuckers
do usually have a pale whitish to yellow belly.
[ drumming ]
This guy is drumming—
—not tapping sapwells.
I pay attention sometimes.
The crown is red on both sexes
as well as the distinct white shoulder mark.
But we know this is a male
because of the red throat.
Females will not have that red throat.
Toss up some more of Ed’s photos
for a better comparison.
I’ll have Daisy throw down the link
to Ed’s free-to-view wildlife gallery
in the video description.
He has hundreds of photos of our local woodpeckers
and thousands of great photos of other local wildlife.
It’s a great gallery.
Alright—share this video with your human friends
if they need help with woodpecker identification
or they just want to listen to a gorgeous groundhog!
And assuming Koaw doesn’t fire us—
we’ll probably be back!
Spread some knowledge. Be Nature-heroic!