Column: How to identify woodpeckers by the sounds they make

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 9, 2024

Today we learn how to speak woodpecker. At least five different species are cavorting somewhere near your house right this minute. There are three other woodpecker species in Maine. Woodpeckers have can pound out a message. The downy woodpecker has a nice, short, even drum. The hairy woodpecker is a rapid-fire. Yellow-bellied sapsucker drumming starts strongly and then peters out unevenly. Pileated woodpeckers have a deep, booming drum that gets faster and quieter toward the end. Northern flickers have deep booming drums. Red-bellied woodpeckers have moved into the state. In northern Maine, we have always had black-backed woodpeckers and American three-toed woodpeckers. They all sound different.. ~ Bob Duchesne