Chocolate brown Hairy Woodpecker

[Terri Kurtz]

At Wheatridge Greenbelt today (near the Prospect Park parking lot), I found this Hairy Woodpecker with chocolate brown tail feathers. From what I find, this coloration is more common in the Pacific Northwest.  Does anyone have more information?  Definitely a first for me and hoped it would be interesting to others.

 Terri Kurtz

[linda hodges]

Terri and all,

Very interesting; thank you for sharing. 

Here's what i found online from Garth Spellman, when looking at a similar photo:

Garth Spellman, the curator of ornithology at Denver Museum of Science and Nature, gave this reply when I inquired about his thoughts on this Hairy:

 

Looks like this individual has a problem with its melanin pathways. Black plumage is normally straight melanin and browns or tans are phaeomelanin. Oftentimes birds have problems or develop problems in these pathways that can lead to aberrant plumage. This can often happen in older birds, but not always. The brownish color actually looks like the same color found in Hairy Woodpeckers down in Panama (yes they get all the way down there). The subspecies in Panama is small and brown."

Linda Hodges

Colorado Springs

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[Gisellys Zarzuela]

I am reviving this old thread. I think I may have seen the same bird at Prospect Park near the parking lot. See attached photo. I had no idea some Hairy Woodpeckers could look like this. 

Gigi Zarzuela

Wheat Ridge, CO

[Ariella Stein]

Hi There,

I saw a similar hairy last spring and just saw one again this morning at my feeder (apologies for the terrible cellphone pic). If she comes back, I'll try to get a better picture.