Bird Watchers

[Darin]

The elusive Cat Bird spotted in my Pecan tree!

 

[Nihon_Ni]

A male Hairy Woodpecker showed up at the feeders a short time ago. For a long time I did not know I was looking at a Hairy Woodpecker because they look nearly identical to the Downey Woodpecker. First time I've ever seen this happen - while the Hairy Woodpecker was feeding, a male Downey woodpecker showed up on the opposite side of the feeder. Gave me the opportunity to show the differences between them (namely the Hairy is bigger than the Downey). But - here they are - side by side!


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This is a great picture! It is difficult to determine Hairy from Downy when they aren't side by side. Even the size difference is hard to estimate when using binos. The trick I learned is to look at the bill as a ratio of head size. The Downy's bill is only 1/4-1/3 the size of his head, while the Hairy's is almost 1/2 the size of his head.