If it was the same size it more than likely was the hairy. Too bad there wasn't a way you could see them closer. Have you looked into some type of bird cam?
Hairy are bigger then Downy. Which is how we remember which is which, big and Hairy and small is Downy. We have more Downy here.
I took a different route to the wood yard today. The road crosses a reservoir right around the corner from it. I spotted this blue heron perched near the water. Pulled over and got out to get pics expecting it to fly away in the process. First pic when I hopped the guardrail and second was within 20' of it. Didn't think I would get that close. Most of the water was frozen over from the recent cold spell.
I couldn't really tell the size because it was blurry and the background was not conductive for comparison to hte feeder. I have no interest in a bird cam. I know which is bigger, I just couldn't see the bird's outline to tell if it was as big as the suet feeder or smaller. Since it had its back to me I could tell it had the red spot (male) and it was striped on its wings/back. It probably was a Downey, but I usually have a pair of each, so can't definitively rule out one or the other with what I could actually see. Additionally, Juvenile Hairys can be mistaken for a Downey. The bird was definitely not as big as the red bellied that I had earlier in the week. The red bellied was easier to tell because I got a full frontal view of the white belly, which helped tremendously on seeing the outline and telling how big it was compared to the feeder).
