Downy Woodpeckers are the most common small woodpeckers in the Midwest. They can also be found across most of the United States and Canada in both boreal and hardwood forests as well as in cities, farmlands and small woodlots.

Downy Woodpeckers are about seven inches long. Their black backs are speckled with white, their bellies are white, and they have white stripes extending back from their chins and above their eyes. Adult males have red spots on the backs of their heads and young males have red spots on top of their heads. Females do not have any red spot on their heads.

Downy Woodpeckers are almost identical to the slightly larger hairy woodpeckers which are about 9 inches long. But the downys' bill is only about a half an inch long while the hairy woodpeckers' bill is larger, about an inch long. In addition, the size of the downys' head is smaller than that of the hairy woodpecker.

Downy woodpeckers establish a nesting territory by drumming on dry, resonant branches or buildings with their bills. This drumming sound is different from the irregular tapping associated with their pecking on wood in search of food.

These woodpeckers excavate a hole in a tree trunk between 8 and 18 inches deep to make a nest cavity, where they then lay from four to six eggs. The eggs hatch after an incubation period of 12 days and the young fledge after about three weeks.

Eighty percent of the downy woodpeckers' summer diet and 70 percent of its winter diet consist of insects, insect caterpillars and larvae, and animal fat. They also eat cherries, Virginia creeper berries, mulberries, poison ivy berries, acorns, broken walnuts, corn, peanuts, sumac seeds and sunflowers.

Downy woodpeckers can be attracted to feeders by putting out chunks of suet, cracked pecans, peanut butter, cheese or fruit. You can also attract them by hanging out a peanut feeder or a section of deer ribs on a tree trunk.