Day 17.334: Hairy and downy

I took these photos to confirm the species of these two woodpeckers on Saturday for the count. When I saw that they were almost identical in terms of the angle etc. I thought I'd post them to indicate the main way I differentiate - the beak length. Other indications include the head markings and their calls:

Downy woodpecker (L) and hairy woodpecker (R) 

The downy is altogether smaller and that is sometimes enough - especially when it lands on the suet block for example where we have a good size comparison to go by. For example, here is the hairy temporarily perched on the Nyjer feeder and looking rather tall:

When seen in a tree with less obvious comparisons, it can be quite tricky to judge by size alone.