I heard a loud deep drumming last week. I looked out into the yard, which is partly forest, and to my delight, I spotted my first pileated woodpecker!! He is quite large compared to the downy and red-bellies I usually see.

Between drumming and calls, woodpeckers have a great diversity of sounds to be aware of when trying to make an identification!

We have hairy and downy woodpeckers year round. When spring arrives, they, maybe just ne, goes to town drumming on the metal roof of our sugar house  the sound really carries through the forest.

I remember seeing a woodpecker drumming on a metal post and assumed it was just a fledgling learning about it's environment. I never considered that it could have been an adult that was just using the post to communicate with other woodpeckers.

I guess I never thought about the different meanings of drumming.  Very interesting to learn about them.

We used to have a flicker that would drum on our chimney flashing, but we only noticed it early Saturday mornings.  It was quite an alarm clock.

My favorite woodpecker drumming story came from a friend of mine, who thought a woodpecker in her yard couldn't figure out that the metal siding on her house wasn't a tree, until I told her that the woodpecker wasn't looking for food, it was looking for a mate! I also have a woodpecker who enjoys drumming on the wood eaves of my own house, much to the agitation of my dog.

More than once, a Lineated Woodpecker's drumming has made me think someone was working nearby. The hammering is spaced but regular, so it sounds like human work. Then I realize it's coming from a place where no person would be, and sure enough, it's just that woodpecker!

I love learning about the difference between drumming and tapping. I'm really excited to take this information back to my students and go into the woods to see what we can see - or rather hear!

In the past I thought it was odd for woodpeckers to peck on the metal flashing around our chimney, thinking "You're not going to get insects through that!"  In fact the woodpecker is brilliant, using the metal to extend his territory and/or mating range.

I just love to hear the drumming as I am walking along near my home and really miss it when I don’t. I’m fascinated learning anything about woodpeckers, but as an OB nurse, I especially enjoyed learning about the “brood patch” on the belly of both males and females to aid in transferring body heat during incubation and brooding. I also read that they are a good way to tell what breeding stage a bird is in. The patch begins to develop during nest building, becomes swollen with fluid during incubation, and then declines. What a very clever design!

It's so sweet to see/hear pairs gently tapping for each other as part of their bonding.

I'm really enjoying this course! I'm interested to know if there are good ways to distinguish between the drumming patterns of the common eastern WPs - i.e. downy, hairy, red-bellied, pileated - any guides, or just advice? I've noticed hairies tend to have very fast drumming, faster than downies, which surprised me!

it is fascinating how they have all created their own vibrational tap known only to that species of woodpecker.  It is so similar to morris code.

For a few weeks last spring a Northern Flicker choose to drum on a metal transformer attached to a phone pole. https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/616519590 March 20, 2024 St. Louis County MO. You can hear the drumming best near the end of the recording. We had a big storm and the pole cracked and fell, transformer and all. Crews replaced the pole and put up a new transformer, but the flicker apparently didn't care for the sound. He didn't use it for drumming. On April 14, same year and same location, a flicker began drumming almost every day on my air conditioning unit. https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/617359378 Again, you can hear the drumming best near the end of the recording.

My house is made out of wood. And sometimes downy woodpeckers peck on my house. It could be for communication. I hope they don’t make a nest! And if they are looking for food, they’re not going to find any. It also makes a really weird sound.

I used to wonder why a flicker would drum on metal and now I know. It does make a rather impressive sound! I also previously thought that drumming was part of excavating for a nest. How clever of them to announce their arrival and intention.

Where I live, there are two main woodpecker species (seeing a Northern Flicker is rare): Acorn Woodpeckers and Hairy or Downy Woodpeckers. Normally, I hear their non-drumming vocalizations as they are flying or other woodpeckers are flying around. When it comes to drumming, I only hear them drilling to store nuts, make nest holes, or find worms under bark. It was interesting to learn that they can use trees or other stationary items to communicate a wide variety of information. I don't think I have heard many territorial wood drumming displays, which might be because the Acorn Woodpeckers I see live in family groups in known territories and the Downy or Hairy Woodpeckers I see are usually in very specific territories where there are not many other woodpeckers to compete with. However, when I hike, I will try to be more observant to see if I can hear different types of drumming amongst the other sounds I hear from the woodpeckers.

Now that I know the meaning of drumming I smile.  Wonder did they find a mate? are they defending their territory.

I love to hear the sapsucker drumming. It reminds me of morse code -- or at least morse code as I remember hearing/seeing performed in old movies.

Before I read about drumming I was unaware that: 1) drumming was a form of communication; and 2) that different types of drumming mean different things to woodpeckers and function differently from each other. For example, while in the woods, I would hear very loud drumming but also would see a woodpecker simply tapping on bark at anytime of year. Reading about these differences has heightened my observations about woodpeckers and have improved my ability to determine what they are doing and when.  My favorite siting is of a Pileated Woodpecker, deep in the woods in Central Connecticut. S/He was excavating a cavity in a dead tree. The bird would tap/drill then throw out the debris with great force. It was fun to watch.  My husband took this picture in July 2024.

Every Spring there's a Northern flicker that drums on the metal rain gutter just outside my bedroom window, much earlier in the morning than I care to get up. Gutters make very effective drums! I caught this guy later in a tree, looking all innocent... "Who, me?"

I have witnessed drumming as a signal from the Downy Woodpeckers around the area.  The more common and initially surprising signals were the loud calls of the Northern Flicker.