Midwest USA, March 2026
Oly E-M1 @ 275mm, f/8, 1/640s, ISO 1000
Downys are too damn cute. I was lucky enough to catch the sun in his eye.
Midwest USA, March 2026
Oly E-M1 @ 275mm, f/8, 1/640s, ISO 1000
Downys are too damn cute. I was lucky enough to catch the sun in his eye.
These types of woodpeckers are fascinating to me. Greater spotted, hairy, downy, red-cockaded, ladder-backed, Nuttall’s, red-naped sapsucker, and yellow-bellied sapsucker are all easy to confuse. It makes you wonder where and when on the evolutionary chain did they diverge?
If you try looking up the Latin names, families etc. you get lost in a maze of changes and alternative forms! Downy and Greater Spotted probably diverge at the Genus level, but depends on your authority!
The UK’s Lesser spotted woodpecker is in the same genus as Downy however!?!