What Do Downy Woodpeckers Eat? (Complete Guide)

North America’s smallest woodpecker, known for its acrobatic mastery at feeding, the downy woodpecker is fascinating to watch on the most erratic of backyard feeders. The woodpeckers most frequented in backyards are big fans of suet and peanuts, but what does their natural diet consist of? Read on to learn more.

Downy woodpeckers are omnivores — 75 percent of their diet consists mainly of insects, with the remaining 25 percent consisting of fruits, seeds and weeds, plus suet and nuts from backyard feeders. Males and females compete for food and have different foraging techniques when searching for food.

Male downy woodpeckers tend to forage on the ground, while female woodpeckers are found under trees, on branches or stumps, where they can be seen tapping on the wood and listening for tiny movements or vibrations beneath the surface of the bark to indicate presence. Ants or beetles.

Read on to learn more about what a typical downy woodpecker diet includes, as well as more in-depth information on techniques that may be used during foraging at different times of the year.

A downy woodpecker drumming in a tree foraging for insects

Do downy woodpeckers eat seeds?

About 75% of the downy woodpecker’s natural diet consists of insects. However, this is supplemented by a mix of discarded seeds, nuts, fruits, berries and treats from the backyard feeding station.

Downy woodpeckers forage for wild fruit and their seeds, including those from sycamores, flowering dogwoods, oaks and wild sumac. Sunflower and safflower seeds are popular choices for backyard growers, and nyjer seeds are also eaten if available.

What do downy woodpeckers eat in the wild?

Downy woodpeckers are omnivores, and insects make up the largest part of their natural diet. Feeds on a variety of insects, mainly ants and wood-boring beetles. Caterpillars, larvae, gall wasps, moths and mayflies are also eaten.

Downy woodpeckers burrow in bark, dead wood, and branches to scoop up any insects from beneath the surface. Their long, barbed tongues produce a sticky mucus as they feed, allowing them to easily catch and swallow any bugs they catch.

A downy woodpecker perched on a post

How Often Do Downy Woodpeckers Eat?

Downy woodpeckers are active foragers, spending most of the day looking for food. When they feed their newly hatched chicks, they follow a strict and frenzied feeding schedule, requiring several feeds per hour between early morning and sunset.

How Do Downy Woodpeckers Find Food?

After tapping the bark of fallen trees and stumps with their long beaks, downy woodpeckers keep an eye out for moving ants, termites and beetles. They also have a highly developed sense of smell, and can smell the formic acid that these bugs give off, and then know exactly where to attack next.

Competition for foraging sites leads male and female downy woodpeckers to adopt different strategies for foraging, especially in winter. Males forage on the ground, where they forage for roots and branches that provide a steady source of ground-dwelling insects.

Females will climb up branches and trunks and use their beaks to dig holes in the woods, looking for insects that live under the bark and in the leaves.

Downy woodpeckers are frequent visitors to backyard feeders and are not afraid to forage near human habitation.

A male velvet woodpecker foraging on the ground

What time of day do downy woodpeckers eat?

Downy woodpeckers are diurnal, foraging during the day, most often in the early morning and evening. You won’t hear woodpeckers drumming for food in the dark: they have poor night vision and roost all night.

What do woodpeckers eat in winter?

Outside of breeding season, downy woodpeckers are often seen feeding as part of larger mixed bird flocks that may also include black-capped tits, cardinals, and finches.

Natural winter food preferences of downy-feeding woodpeckers include acorns, poison ivy and Virginia creeper fruit, and pine nuts.

Downy woodpecker feeding from a bird feeder in winter

What Do Summer Woodpeckers Eat?

During the summer, downy woodpeckers follow a slightly different diet than their winter diet. Relying more on insects and bugs than on fruit and seeds, they can be seen (and heard) tapping on twigs and fallen trees, and then listen for what’s going on beneath the bark or wood surface.

Pests that represent important elements of a downy woodpecker’s diet include ants, termites, corn borers, tent caterpillars, bark beetles, and apple borers.

What do little downy woodpeckers eat?

Juvenile downy woodpeckers require a high-protein diet during the time after hatching and are provided with a steady stream of insects and larvae by their parents. Chicks are fed every few minutes during the first few days after hatching, but when they have fledged, feed 2 to 3 times a day.

An adult downy woodpecker feeds its fledgling chicks

How do you attract downy woodpeckers?

Downy woodpeckers can quickly become backyard regulars if provided with the right food and feeders. Funnel, platform and cage suet feeders should be placed in a quiet area, as far away as possible from possible human or other noise disturbance.

Environmental factors also play a role in attracting downy woodpeckers, so if you have plenty of deciduous and coniferous trees near your backyard, as well as some dead or dying trees, then this is a good place to start.

Although downy woodpeckers prefer to nest in tree cavities, they will occasionally take advantage of nest boxes of appropriate size and location.

What do downy woodpeckers drink?

Downy woodpeckers drink fresh water from a backyard birdbath and also drink from fruit and berries. They also drink juice from broken overripe fruit and occasionally from trees. They have also been observed drinking from a sugar water feeding source left for hummingbirds.

A female soft woodpecker looking for insects on a branch

Downy Woodpecker Diet FAQs

Do Downy Woodpeckers Eat From Bird Feeder?

Downy woodpeckers are the woodpeckers most likely to visit your backyard bird feeder. They especially love mesh feeders with suet and peanuts in shell, and will eat sunflower and safflower seeds, mealworms, and sycamore seed balls.

Do downy woodpeckers eat sunflower seeds?

While about 75 percent of a downy woodpecker’s diet consists of insects, they also eat a variety of seeds, including black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, and safflower seeds.

Do Downy Woodpeckers Eat Hummingbird Nectar?

Downy woodpeckers have been observed to drink sugar nectar reserved for hummingbirds. The downy woodpecker’s long tongue can reach into tiny holes in a hummingbird feeder so it can easily access the sweet substance.

Downy woodpecker feeding from a hummingbird feeder

Do downy woodpeckers eat peanuts?

Peanuts and peanut butter are two favorite backyard foods for downy woodpeckers, and they may be visiting your garden feeders. Shelled peanuts in net or tube feeders, as well as chunky peanut butter sprinkled directly on the bark or branches of nearby trees, will also attract these curious birds.

Do Downy Woodpeckers Eat Fruit?

Fruits such as berries are an important part of a downy woodpecker’s diet. Seasonal fruits such as blackberries, strawberries, cherries and grapes are popular, as are oranges and apples. The downy woodpecker also sucks the juice from overripe crushed fruit on the ground.