Ask Kenn: Can I Identify Woodpeckers by Their Drumming?

Who’s Kenn? Simply put, Kenn is a national treasure. A renowned birder, author, and conservationist, Kenn Kaufman has spent his life dedicated to observing birds, reading about birds, writing about birds, and sharing the world of birds with others. With all that birdy knowledge in his brain, he also acts as the field editor for Audubon magazine. So, whenever we have a bird question stumping us around the office, we just ask Kenn. And now you can, too! If you have a bird or birding question you’d like Kenn to answer, leave them on Facebook or send us an email. Maybe next month you’ll get the kind of thorough, thoughtful, and even humorous response from Kenn we’ve grown so fond of over the years. —The Editors 

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Question: Is it possible to identify any woodpecker species by their drumming alone?

Woodpeckers are not the only birds that peck on wood. Nuthatches, chickadees, and others also tap on trunks and limbs to dig out hiding insects or to excavate or enlarge holes they will use for their nests. So a random tapping in the trees won’t be identifiable. But when we hear a rapid drumroll echoing through the woods, we can be sure that’s a woodpecker.

The woodpecker chooses a surface that will produce a loud sound, such as a hard dead branch or even a metal pipe. Its drumming is not for bug-hunting or nest-making, which would require slower, more deliberate strikes. Instead, it’s a form of communication, functioning like the song of a songbird: announcing a claim to a territory, attracting a mate, or maintaining contact between members of a pair. Several species of woodpeckers may share the same forest, so they have to be able to recognize drums of their own kind—which suggests we can learn to recognize them, too.

Take Hairy Woodpeckers and Downy Woodpeckers, which are widespread in North America and often found together. Males and females of each have the same drumming patterns, but the two species differ. The Hairy’s drum is a rapid-fire burst of about 26 beats in one emphatic second—so rapid that the strikes seem to run together in an angry buzz. The Downy’s is typically shorter than one second and much slower, with about 12 to 17 beats, giving it a gentler sound. With practice, we can distinguish the difference between these and other species. 

The much larger Pileated Woodpecker has a slow drumming pattern of about 15 beats per second, like the Downy’s, but louder and usually longer than one second. Typically it speeds up and gets a little softer at the end, giving the distinct impression of trailing off. This same effect of fading at the end is heard in the drumming of American Three-toed Woodpecker and Black-backed Woodpecker, uncommon species of northern and montane forests.

Sapsuckers have the most distinctive drumming of all, a staccato pattern with a rapid burst followed by irregular single or double knocks. For the Yellow-bellied, Red-naped, and Red-breasted Sapsuckers, all of which are close relatives, we might write the sound as TRRRRRR, TR TR TR, T-T, TT, T-T. For Williamson’s Sapsucker, the knocks after the initial drumroll also consist of multiple rapid strikes, more widely spaced as they go along: TRRRRRR, TRRR TRRR TRRR, TRR, TRR, TR.

Some species alternate drumming with vocal sounds. The Red-bellied Woodpecker of eastern North America has a relatively slow drum like the Downy, with about 13 to 17 beats in less than one second. In between drumrolls, it often gives loud, distinctive calls. Its southwestern relatives, Golden-fronted Woodpecker and Gila Woodpecker, have the same behavior. So does the Northern Flicker. The flicker’s drum is only moderately fast but it’s often relatively long, lasting almost two seconds, with up to 30 beats. Between drumrolls, flickers often give a loud, yammering “song,” serving the same territorial and mate-attracting purposes as the drumming.

For woodpeckers that don’t mix calls with their drumming, learning to identify drum patterns can take time, because we often hear these sounds in the woods without seeing the bird that’s making them. To study at home, look up recordings online. Two excellent, reliable sources are the Macaulay Library at Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the independent website Xeno-canto.  Search on a species name and you’ll find dozens, or even hundreds, of good recordings. Telling one head-banging bird from another is a fun ID challenge that will add a whole other dimension to your time in the woods.

This story originally ran in the Spring 2026 issue. To receive our print magazine, become a member by making a donation today.