IMITATION HIGHEST FORM OF FLATTERY - Male Downy Woodpecker...looks like a mini-me of the larger Hairy Woodpecker. Recent research supports the idea that the smaller species (the Downy) can benefit when other birds mistake it for a larger species (the Hairy Woodpecker). In other words, the Downy Woodpecker fools the other birds and gets a higher position in the pecking order by pretending to be a Hairy Woodpecker.