Only their hairdresser knows for sure! 🙂

I combined two photographs into one picture of these two birds. As you can see, they look very, very similar. However, in the wild it is not too difficult to correctly identify these two birds.

1. A Hairy Woodpecker is about 1/3 larger than a Downy
2. The bill of a Hairy is both broader and longer (a Downy’s is sharper)
3. The outside tail feathers of a Hairy are pure white. A Downy’s will have gray or black spots.

Read more about keeping these two birds straight at BirdWatching.Com.

• View this project’s Flickr photo stream. (click upon image to view at full size)

Both Birds (Hairy on the right)

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Hairy Woodpecker

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Downy Woodpecker