Hairy Woodpecker Photos

Photography by Terry Sohl

My Favorite: I have Downy Woodpeckers n my yard, every day, without exception. Winter, summer, doesn't matter, they'll be there, and I'm very glad for it. I DO see their bigger cousins, Hairy Woodpeckers, on occasion in my yard, but it's a much rare event, perhaps 10 to 15 times a year on average where I see one. Still, 10 to 15 times a year is a lot of sightings over the years, and that's JUST in my yard. And yet, I have very few photos of them overall. They are definitely much more skittish than Downy Woodpeckers here.

My favorite is of the male below from Perry Nature Area near Sioux Falls. They used to have some feeders set up, and it was a great place to hang out and watch from close range, as it was right next to extensive forest and riparian habitat, and usually had a lot of activity. I also got a good photo of a female there on this very same day.

Hairy Woodpecker - Leuconotopicus villosus


Hairy Woodpecker 1	Hairy Woodpecker 2	Hairy Woodpecker 3	Hairy Woodpecker 4
February 4th, 2006	February 4th, 2006	June 23rd, 2006	June 20th, 2008
Perry Nature Area near Sioux Falls, South Dakota	Perry Nature Area near Sioux Falls, South Dakota	Near Beaver Creek Nature Area, South Dakota	Northern California
Male bird clinging to the trunk of a small tree	Female bird clinging to the trunk of a small tree	Female bird on small tree in forest understory	Male at nesting hole built in trunk of a conifer tree

Hairy Woodpecker 5	Hairy Woodpecker 6	Hairy Woodpecker 7
March 3rd, 2013	March 4th, 2018	May 4th, 2019
Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota	Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota	Brandon, South Dakota
Female perched on lichen-covered tree branch	Male clinging to tree branch	Female on crabapple tree trunk (outside our sunroom at home)