The Hairy Woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker, close to robin size, with a white stripe down the middle of its black back, black wings spotted with white, and a boldly striped black-and-white face. Males have a small red patch on the back of the head. Western birds show less white spotting on the wings than eastern ones.
It is a hard worker. Hairy Woodpeckers hitch up trunks and big limbs, flaking off bark and digging into dead wood for wood-boring beetle larvae, ants and caterpillars, and they also eat some berries, seeds and nuts. In Oregon they are often most common in burned forests and in stands where bark beetles have killed or weakened trees. Both members of a pair excavate the nest hole, often in a dead conifer or an aspen in the West, and both incubate the eggs and feed the young. Removing standing dead trees takes away the snags they need for nesting.
Hairy Woodpeckers live year round in nearly every forested part of Oregon. On Mt. Hood, listen for a sharp, loud call note and a fast rattle on one pitch, and look for them on snags in burns and mixed conifer forest. In late winter, pairs court by drumming back and forth on dead trees.
How to identify it
A black-and-white woodpecker 7 to 10 inches long with a white back stripe, white-spotted black wings and plain white outer tail feathers. The bill is long, nearly as long as the head. Males have a red patch on the back of the crown.
Look-alikes
Downy Woodpecker looks almost identical but is noticeably smaller, and its bill is much shorter compared with its head. The Hairy's call note is also louder.
Habitat
Forests with large trees, especially mixed-conifer and ponderosa pine forests, recent burns and stands with beetle-killed trees, plus nearby deciduous groves. Found year round in forests across Oregon, including Mt. Hood National Forest.
Sightings in the forest
112 research-grade sightings in Mt. Hood National Forest on iNaturalist, most recently on October 23, 2026. See them on iNaturalist →