HOW TO BE A WOODPECKER

There are woodpeckers, and there are wood-peckers.  The Hairy Woodpecker is a paragon of woodpecking.  Not for him the tiny twigs and leaf-gleaning of his bantam cousin, the Downy Woodpecker.  He’s definitely not to be found on the ground with a Flicker who will consort with the likes of thrushes and sparrows down there in the dirt.  Eating ants!  A sturdy trunk or big branch is the where you’ll find the Hairy Woodpecker….or on my suet feeder.  Not drilling those neat circular wells that appeal to the SAPsucker clan.  That’s just plain weird to a Hairy Woodpecker.  Never on those horizontal dead trunks that often appeal to Pileated Woodpeckers.  The Hairy is a great woodworker, a true driller with a hearty beak.  For nest holes: perfectly round.  Habitat: mature forest, not those little willow copses where you can find Downy.