In feeding, most woodpeckers start at the base of a tree, searching for insects and spiders, and then they move up the trunk in spirals until they reach the larger limbs where they explore the undersides of branches. Some species, such as sapsuckers and hairy woodpeckers, excavate holes in live trees. Others, such as flickers and downy woodpeckers, prefer to drill in dying trees or snags. In either case, the birds tunnel down six to eighteen inches deep, making the excavation wider at the bottom for the egg chamber. Both male and female woodpeckers take turns incubating two to eight eggs.
Hatchlings are naked and blind.
Depending on species, young leave the nest between twenty one and thirty days after hatching. Species found in the Puget Sound area range in size from the pilleated woodpecker which is about nineteen inches long, to the downy woodpecker at six to seven inches in length. The red-shafted, or common, flicker, is a species of woodpecker that has adapted to urban and suburban environments. Unlike other woodpeckers, flickers often feed on the ground where they eat ants. They are characterized by the reddish-orange underlinings of the wings and tail.