Ask Kenn: Can I Identify Woodpeckers by Their Drumming?

Who’s Kenn? Merely put, Kenn is a nationwide treasure. A famend birder, writer, and conservationist, Kenn Kaufman has spent his life devoted to observing birds, studying about birds, writing about birds, and sharing the world of birds with others. With all that birdy data in his mind, he additionally acts as the sphere editor for Audubon journal. So, each time we’ve got a fowl query stumping us across the workplace, we simply ask Kenn. And now you may, too! You probably have a fowl or birding query you’d like Kenn to reply, depart them on Fb or ship us an e-mail. Possibly subsequent month you’ll get the type of thorough, considerate, and even humorous response from Kenn we’ve grown so keen on through the years. —The Editors 

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Query: Is it potential to establish any woodpecker species by their drumming alone?

Woodpeckers aren’t the one birds that peck on wooden. Nuthatches, chickadees, and others additionally faucet on trunks and limbs to dig out hiding bugs or to excavate or enlarge holes they are going to use for his or her nests. So a random tapping within the timber received’t be identifiable. However after we hear a fast drumroll echoing via the woods, we will make sure that’s a woodpecker.

The woodpecker chooses a floor that may produce a loud sound, akin to a tough lifeless department or perhaps a metallic pipe. Its drumming will not be for bug-hunting or nest-making, which might require slower, extra deliberate strikes. As an alternative, it’s a type of communication, functioning just like the tune of a songbird: saying a declare to a territory, attracting a mate, or sustaining contact between members of a pair. A number of species of woodpeckers could share the identical forest, so that they have to have the ability to acknowledge drums of their very own form—which suggests we will study to acknowledge them, too.

Take Bushy Woodpeckers and Downy Woodpeckers, that are widespread in North America and infrequently discovered collectively. Men and women of every have the identical drumming patterns, however the two species differ. The Bushy’s drum is a rapid-fire burst of about 26 beats in a single emphatic second—so fast that the strikes appear to run collectively in an indignant buzz. The Downy’s is usually shorter than one second and far slower, with about 12 to 17 beats, giving it a gentler sound. With observe, we will distinguish the distinction between these and different species. 

The a lot bigger Pileated Woodpecker has a gradual drumming sample of about 15 beats per second, just like the Downy’s, however louder and normally longer than one second. Sometimes it accelerates and will get slightly softer on the finish, giving the distinct impression of trailing off. This identical impact of fading on the finish is heard within the drumming of American Three-toed Woodpecker and Black-backed Woodpecker, unusual species of northern and montane forests.

Sapsuckers have probably the most distinctive drumming of all, a staccato sample with a fast burst adopted by irregular single or double knocks. For the Yellow-bellied, Pink-naped, and Pink-breasted Sapsuckers, all of that are shut relations, we would write the sound as TRRRRRR, TR TR TR, T-T, TT, T-T. For Williamson’s Sapsucker, the knocks after the preliminary drumroll additionally encompass a number of fast strikes, extra extensively spaced as they go alongside: TRRRRRR, TRRR TRRR TRRR, TRR, TRR, TR.

Some species alternate drumming with vocal sounds. The Pink-bellied Woodpecker of japanese North America has a comparatively gradual drum just like the Downy, with about 13 to 17 beats in lower than one second. In between drumrolls, it usually offers loud, distinctive calls. Its southwestern relations, Golden-fronted Woodpecker and Gila Woodpecker, have the identical habits. So does the Northern Flicker. The sparkle’s drum is simply reasonably quick but it surely’s usually comparatively lengthy, lasting virtually two seconds, with as much as 30 beats. Between drumrolls, glints usually give a loud, yammering “tune,” serving the identical territorial and mate-attracting functions because the drumming.

For woodpeckers that don’t combine calls with their drumming, studying to establish drum patterns can take time, as a result of we frequently hear these sounds within the woods with out seeing the fowl that’s making them. To review at house, search for recordings on-line. Two wonderful, dependable sources are the Macaulay Library at Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the impartial web site Xeno-canto.  Search on a species title and also you’ll discover dozens, and even a whole lot, of excellent recordings. Telling one head-banging fowl from one other is a enjoyable ID problem that may add a complete different dimension to your time within the woods.

This story initially ran within the Spring 2026 challenge. To obtain our print journal, grow to be a member by making a donation today.