You won't find these forest birds hunting for food on the ground or in the air but on trees. They help keep trees healthy by eating parasitic larvae of wood-boring beetles, among a variety of other insects.
Habitat: forest Seasons: common year-round Size: lenth 5.25 in (13 cm), wingspan 7.75 in (19.6 cm) Brown Creeper Calls
Brown creepers have mottled brown plumage with white bellies. They "creep" up tree trunks, using their thin, curved bills to pry into the bark looking for insects. They have long tails and a single pale-colored band stretching across both above and below the wings. The pale wing band and white bellies makes them easier to spot when flying, but their brown feathers act as camouflage when they are creeping up trees.
Habitat: forest, subalpine Seasons: common year-round Size: length 4.5 in (11.4 cm), wingspan 8.5 in (21.6 cm) Red-breasted Nuthatch Calls
These small birds have blue backs and pale orange bellies (brighter in males), with distinctive black and white stripes on the face. Nuthatches use their feet to climb trees, bracing with one foot placed lower than the other. Woodpeckers can only climb up because they need to brace with their tails, but nuthatches can also climb head-down.
Woodpeckers - Order Piciformes, Family Picidae
Hairy Woodpecker (female)
Crow Vecchio photo
Hairy Woodpecker Picoides villosus
Habitat: forest, subalpine Seasons: common year-round Size: length 9.25 in (23.5 cm), wingspan 15 in (38 cm) Hairy Woodpecker Calls
Hairy woodpeckers are white with bold black stripes on the face and neck. They have black rumps and black wings with white speckles. Pacific populations are darker, more tan than white, with more black on the flanks. Males have a red patch on the back of the head. Hairy woodpeckers are larger than the similar-looking downy woodpecker, with longer bills.
Tap, tap, tap...
Tap, tap, tap...
Sometimes easier to hear than see, hairy woodpeckers (Picoides villosus) live year-round in Mount Rainier's forests. This male hairy woodpecker (note the red patch on the back of the head) was observed hunting for insects on a dead tree in the Carbon River area of the park in September, 2021.
Habitat: forest, subalpine Seasons: common year-round Size: length 12.5 in (31.7 cm), wingspan 20 in (50.8 cm) Northern Flicker Calls
Western populations of northern flickers have grey heads, with brown crowns. Females have brown malars, or stripes extending along the bottom of the cheek, while males have red malars. Their bodies are pale brown with black stripes on the back and wings, and black spots on the belly. They have a black half-circle patch covering their breasts, and white rumps visible when flying.
Pileated Woodpecker
NPS Photo
Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus
Habitat: forest Seasons: uncommon year-round Size: length 16.5 in (42 cm), wingspan 29 in (74 cm) Pileated Woodpecker Calls
These large woodpeckers are black with white stripes down the sides of their faces and necks. The undersides of their wings are also white, with a white band on the primary wing feathers. Both sexes have a large red crest. On males, the crest stretches down over the forehead, and they have red stripes on their cheeks. Pileated woodpeckers prefer mature forests where they hunt for carpenter ants.
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Crow Vecchio Photo
Red-breasted Sapsucker Sphyrapicus ruber
Habitat: forest, subalpine Seasons: uncommon year-round Size: length 8.5 in (21.6 cm), wingspan 16 in (40.6 cm) Red-breasted Sapsucker Calls
Red-breasted sapsuckers have red heads and breasts, with yellow-grey bellies. Wings and tail are black. Wings have white coverts and tails have a white stripe down the center. They have a white patch over the bill. Northern populations are larger with more red than southern populations, and have narrow stripes of gold spots down the back. Red-breasted sapsuckers do not actually drink sap, but drill holes to catch insects in the tree sap.
