Red-naped Sapsucker

Sphyrapicus nuchalis

Order PICIFORMES - Family PICIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

The Red-naped Sapsucker is a woodpecker of the lower elevations of the Rocky Mountains. It prefers to make sap wells in willow trees, but will use a variety of tree species.

Cool Facts

• The Red-naped Sapsucker is closely related to the Yellow-bellied and Red-breasted sapsuckers. All three were formerly considered races of the yellow-bellied. The red-naped hybridizes where it comes in contact with the other two species, and birds intermediate in plumage are sometimes found.

• Sapsuckers do not suck sap, but are specialized for sipping it. Their tongues are shorter than those of other woodpeckers, and do not extend as far out. The tip of the tongue has small hair-like projections on it that help pick up the sap, much like a paintbrush holds paint.

• Sap wells made by sapsuckers attract other sap feeders, especially hummingbirds. Although the woodpecker may eat some insects that are attracted, others are treated as competitors and are chased away.

Description

• Size: 19-21 cm (7-8 in)
• Weight: 32-66 g (1.13-2.33 ounces)

• Medium-sized woodpecker.
• White stripe running up side.
• Messy black and whitish barring on back.

• Forehead and crown red with black border.
• Black and white striped face.
• Red spot in white stripe across back of head.
• Upper chest black.
• Blackish barring on sides of breast and belly.
• Yellowish wash across belly, back, and top of chest.
• Wings black with white spotting.
• Tail barred black and white in middle and on outermost feathers, black on sides.
• Eyes black.
• Feet blackish.
• Bill blackish.
• Rump white.

Sex Differences

Female with white chin, male with red chin.

Male

Throat completely red.

Female

Throat red, chin white. Extent of red variable, some with entire throat red.

Immature

Juvenile similar to adult, but head markings obscured because of paleness, with black replaced with brownish.

Similar Species

• Sapsuckers are the only woodpeckers to have the vertical white stripe on the side.
• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker very similar, but usually without red spot in white stripe across the back of the head, and back more white. Red throat of male yellow-bellied is separated from the white by a black border, but in red-naped male the black border is missing or is incomplete. Female red-naped has red throat with a broad black border, but has white chin and red on nape.
• Red-breasted Sapsucker has extensive red across the head, but some still show striped face pattern.
• Williamson's Sapsucker male has all black back and mostly dark head. Female and juvenile Williamson's Sapsucker more cleanly barred across entire plumage, and head pale brown.

Sound

Call a harsh mewing "waah." Drumming a distinctive slow irregular tapping, easily imitated by tapping on a tree with a stick.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds in Rocky Mountains from central British Columbia southward to central New Mexico, and in Cascade Mountains. Isolated populations east and west of Rockies.

Winter Range

Winters from southern California, southern Utah, and New Mexico southward to central Mexico.

Habitat

• Breeds in deciduous and mixed montane forests, often associated with willows and aspens.
• Winters in diverse habitats, including orchards and pine-oak woodlands.

Food

Sap, fruit, arthropods.

Behavior

Foraging

Forages for insects by gleaning, probing, prying, tapping, and flycatching. Drills series of shallow holes in bark of tree, licks up sap.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest in cavity in trees or dead branch. No nest material is added to cavity.

Egg Description

White.

Clutch Size

3-7 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Naked and helpless.

Conservation Status

Historically shot as an orchard pest; protected now. Populations appear stable, but forestry practices may affect abundance in particular areas.

Other Names

Pic à nuque rouge (French)
Chupasavia nuquirroja (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Walters, E. L., E. H. Miller, and P. E. Lowther. 2002. Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber) and Red-naped Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus nuchalis). In The Birds of North America, No. 662 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.