I have seen downy woodpeckers working over young ornamental trees on Dupont Circle, oblivious to the legions of pedestrians and surrounding traffic. More specialized than the downy, the hairy digs for wood-boring insects in the large dead or dying trees of mature woodlands. Flickers do nest, rest, court, and forage in trees, but in warmer months they spend much of their time on the forest floor, lapping up ants at anthills or on fallen logs. From these holes seeps sticky sap, the sapsucker's favored winter food. On warm days, the sap also attracts insects, including large numbers of ants, an additional food source for the birds.
Many woodpeckers also eat fruits, nuts, and even bark.
Vegetable matter, including cherries and other fruits, seeds, beech nuts, acorns, and bark, makes up as much as two-thirds of its diet. Red-headeds also devour insects and arachnids on occasion, as well as the eggs and nestlings of other birds. In backyards, red-bellied woodpeckers often dine on offerings of suet and sunflower seed. Woodpeckers lack the syrinx, or voice box, that characterizes songbirds. Although they do vocalize, woodpecker calls lack the rich diversity of sound for which songbirds such as mockingbirds, nightingales, canaries, and orioles are famous.