During one of my hopeful signs-of-spring walks, I happened to look up at the dead trunk of a tree and noticed bits of wood flying through the air from behind it. I grinned with amusement, for it was a hairy woodpecker excavating a possible nest hole.

I wondered if it was actually a feeding hole, not a nesting hole, for it seemed pretty early for these birds to be thinking about nests. I consulted the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Behavior, which indicated nest-hole excavation can take place between late January and early May. Through the Fields Pond Nature Center, I learned feeding holes are much shallower than nesting holes, easily showing the wood inside. The hole this bird was excavating seemed to penetrate much farther into the tree – I could barely see the back of the cavity.

I had heard the mating and territorial drumming of this bird ringing throughout the forest over the past couple of days. Taking these clues into account, I suspected that what I had observed was, indeed, the start of a nesting prospect.

Woodpeckers drum on a variety of surfaces to stake their territory and attract mates. It is a loud, repetitive percussion that is different from the taps produced when the birds are searching a tree for food, or starting a nest-hole excavation.

An interesting aspect of this display is the difference in each species’ rhythm. The downy, hairy, pileated and yellow-bellied sapsucker woodpeckers can be distinguished by their drumming alone.

The hairy woodpecker produces a series of taps so quickly you cannot hear them individually – it sounds more like a rattle.

The downy woodpecker taps more slowly-you can, by listening carefully, hear each tap.

The pileated woodpecker’s drumming starts out loudly and tapers to soft taps at the end.

The yellow-bellied sapsucker taps slowly like the downy does, but this bird’s drumming tapers off in pairs at the end.

Both male and female hairy woodpeckers drum, and each will have up to four drumming posts scattered throughout their territory. Sometimes, they will pick drainage pipes or gutters to drum for the loudness and resonance these objects provide.

Hairy woodpeckers will start defending their selected nesting tree even before excavation has begun, but sometimes they will abandon a tree in the middle of excavation. This may be because the wood is not of the right consistency. Once a nest cavity is completed – usually in a live tree – breeding takes place anywhere from early April to early June, producing from four to six eggs. Incubation lasts up to 12 days, and the nestling phase lasts about a month, giving great opportunities to observe the parents as they care for their young.

Chris Corio is a volunteer at Fields Pond Nature Center. She can be reached at fieldspond@juno.com.