I did a little birdwatching after work today and saw, among other things, a northern flicker sitting on a branch… but just below it, on a smaller branchlet extending down from that branch, there was a small woodpecker. It looked tiny by comparison–maybe half the size of the northern flicker, possibly less. Unfortunately, it was very far away and it wasn’t at the right angle for me to see its back, which would’ve made clear if it was a Nuttall’s woodpecker or a downy woodpecker.
@lies, is there any hope of figuring out what it was in retrospect, or should I just report it as “woodpecker sp.”?
Another highlight was a Steller’s jay apparently trying to chase a scrub jay away.
There are some other differences besides the back (see Sibley screencap below), and if you were close enough, or had a photo, you might be able to distinguish them based on that. Their vocalizations are also different, so once you learn those you’ll be able to distinguish them that way, at least if they’re vocalizing. But from your description it seems likely that ship has sailed.
“Woodpecker sp.”, optionally with a description of what you saw in the eBird “observation details” to explain that you think it was likely downy or Nuttall’s, is a perfectly respectable way to go, however.
Reposted from https://lies.tumblr.com/post/678438104648056832.
