User:Slowlink/Downy woodpecker

They tend to nest near soft snags, where the wood is softer and the inner heartwood of the tree can be accessed more easily. The woodpecker will form a nest cavity in the softer heartwood, and its nest will be protected by the outer portion of the tree. This portion is made up of harder sapwood, which serves as protection from the elements and predators. The wood is often softer in dead or decayed trees, as a result, the number of dead trees in a forest and downy woodpeckers habitats are positively correlated in studies. Downy woodpeckers prefer to nest in areas with ample light, leading them to favor trees with broader leaves, such as poplars, birches, and ashes, or forest openings and edges.

Breeding
Downy woodpeckers will start breeding in the first breeding season after they are born and will return to a site within 2 hectares of where they were born. They breed every year of their mature life, possibly returning to the same nest holes that they used in years prior. Barring the presence of an existing hole, downy woodpeckers will create a cavity in a tree roughly 2.4 to 15.3 m (8 to 50 ft) above the ground, with the male woodpecker pecking the hole for roughly half of the daylight hours, in 20 minute work sessions. The nest hole takes about two or three weeks to create, and normally measure 12 to 15 cm wide and about 20 to 30 cm deep.

A female will typically lay 4-5 white eggs, but can lay up to 7. During waking hours, both birds will incubate, or warm the eggs for 15 minute periods, taking turns in alternating shifts. At night, the male woodpecker typically will rest on the eggs for their continued warmth. This incubation period lasts for about 12 days. When the eggs hatch, the infant woodpeckers weigh about 1.6 grams, which will rise to around 3.2 grams over the course of its first day of life. They will appear fully grown by the 17th or 18th day. These younger birds are demarcated by tinted red crowns for the males, and striped or white dotted crowns for the females. They will exchange these juvenile crowns for jet black adult crowns after they finish moulting in summer. The young males will gain a bright red dot on the back of their head once they reach adulthood. The adult birds will begin to moult earlier than their young. The process starts when their young still occupy the nest, as dirty and worn feathers are shed for a new set, and culminates with replacement of the two strongest, central feathers. These feathers are maintained to retain the bird's climbing power during the two month moult period. When the moulting ends in September, their plumage will have a slight yellow tinge.


 * Add a habitat section
 * Add a breeding section
 * Add a feeding section
 * Possibly add a section on range
 * Possibly add a section on conservation
 * Can add additional information on:
 * food,
 * water,
 * reproduction