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Birding/Woodpecker...Downy or Nuttall's

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Expert: - 12/31/2008


Question

Downy or Nuttalls
The attached photo was taken a few days ago.  The bird was in our back yard which is located in Stockton, CA.  We live in a small, triangular, suburban, but isolated neighborhood with the Stockton Deep Water Channel (San Joaquin River) on one side, the Calaveras River on the second side, and the Stockton Golf Club on the third side.  The San Joaquin Delta starts just across the rivers and stretches to the Bay Area.  We've only lived here for one year, and are just getting used to the wide variety of bird life, and we're excited to learn as much as we can.  We try Internet ID sites, but this one is not clear to us.  Any ideas?  Thanks in advance.

Answer
I annswerred this question earlier but I am glad you resent it as I responded too quickly. This is clearly a Nuttall's Woodpecker - the Downly has a large white vertical stripe down its back; as you can see the Nuttall's has numerous horizontal stripes.

Roger Lederer

Expertise

Any and all about WILD birds - the science of ornithology. Information about birdwatching, ecology, conservation, migration, behavior, banding, rehabilitation, feeding, songs, binoculars, identification, and careers in ornithology. No questions about pet or caged birds, please.

Experience

Have a PhD and over forty years as a professional ornithologist - research, teaching, author, speaker, webmaster of Ornithology.com . Have written thirty scientific papers, three bird field guides, a textbook in ecology and two recent books entitled "Amazing Birds" and "Birds of New England". Have traveled to over 90 countries watching birds.

Education/Credentials
PhD in Zoology/Ornithology; Emeritus Professor of Biological Sciences; former Dean of the College of Natural Sciences at California State University, Chico

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