Every day I get a pair of Red Bellied woodpeckers in my yard but today I had a Downy Woodpecker ( Picoides pubescens ) stop by.

This little Downy Woodpecker let me get quite close a take a quick snapshot with my digital camera. The Downy Woodpecker is the smallest woodpecker in North America and it ranges from coast to coast, from North to South.

It is very easy to tell the difference in the male and female Downy Woodpecker. The Male Downy woodpecker has a small red patch at the back of his red and the female Downy woodpecker does not. The one that made a visit to my yard was a Female.

Part of the Downy woodpecker’s diet is Poison Ivy seeds and I have a ton of it growing in my backyard. I see them often and usually in pairs. It is fun to watch them as they bounce along the tree trunks, thumping with their little beaks. I recorded this sighting in my PDA.