Williamson's Sapsucker

Williamson's Sapsucker, male

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Williamson's Sapsucker, female

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

A handsome woodpecker of the western mountains, the Williamson's Sapsucker, like other sapsuckers, specializes in drilling sap wells in trees.

Description

• Medium-sized woodpecker.
• White rump.
• Yellow belly.
• Male boldly marked black and white, with red throat .
• Female with brown head and barred black and white all over.

• Size: 21-25 cm (8-10 in)
• Weight: 44-55 g (1.55-1.94 ounces)

Sex Differences

Male black with white wing patch, white face stripes, red throat, and yellow belly; female completely different, with brown head and barred body.

Sound

Call a scratchy "quee-ah." Also chuuring. Drumming a slow, regular tapping.

Conservation Status

Populations may be stable, or declining in Northwest.

Other Names

Pic de Williamson (French)
Chupasavia de Williamson, Carpintero garganta roja (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• In most species of woodpecker the sexes differ in appearance only subtly, usually with the male having red somewhere the female doesn't. Williamson's Sapsucker is unusual in having the male and female looking drastically different. The two sexes look so unalike that they originally were described as different species.

Sources used to construct this page:

Dobbs, R. C., T. E. Martin, and C. J. Conway. 1997. Williamson's Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus). In The Birds of North America, No. 285 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.