Sierra Sun Times - Nuttall's Woodpecker And Red-Breasted Sapsucker

Two different kinds of woodpeckers visited my apple tree this last week. At first I thought one was a Ladder-back Woodpecker, but on close examination I decided it was a Nuttall's Woodpecker. The other Woodpecker was a Red-breasted Sapsucker which is a member of the Woodpecker Family.

Identification Tips: Nuttall's Woodpecker

Length: 6.75 inches
Small black and white woodpecker
Black head
White postocular stripe curves around to almost meet white moustachial stripe and appears as a pale border to dark auriculars
White throat, breast, and belly
Small amounts of black spotting on sides of breast and flanks
Black back barred with white does not extend to black nape
Black wings with white spotting on coverts and flight feathers
Black rump
Black tail with white outer tail feathers barred with black

Adult male:

Red crown
Extensive black forehead

Adult female:

Black forehead, crown, cap, and hindneck

Similar species:

Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers have solid white backs and lack the spotting on the breast and flanks. Nuttall's Woodpecker has black auriculars bordered incompletely by white, a cleaner white breast, a different amount of red on the head of the male, less barring on the back, and less spotting on the flanks in comparison to the Ladder-backed Woodpecker. However, hybrids are known between these two species so identify each with caution in the narrow zone of overlap. http://www.usgs.gov/

Red-breasted Sapsuckers are similar in appearance to the closely related Red-naped Sapsuckers, but they have red heads and breasts. Their upperparts are black barred with white, and they have a prominent white stripe across each black wing. They lack the black breast-band of the other two sapsucker species found in Washington, and they have yellowish bellies. Males and females look much alike. Juveniles are mottled brown but have white wing-stripes like the adults.

Habitat

The dense mixed and conifer forests typical of western Washington are the preferred breeding habitat of Red-breasted Sapsuckers. They are often found in mature and old-growth forests, but will breed in second growth as long as there are some large nesting trees. They can also be found in riparian habitats with large cottonwoods.

Behavior

Sapsuckers get their name from their foraging strategy, which consists of drilling neat horizontal rows of holes into tree trunks and then returning to those holes later to feed on the running sap and the insects attracted to it. Unlike most woodpeckers, they forage in healthy trees and can actually kill a tree if they drill too many sap-holes around its trunk, although this is quite uncommon.

Diet

The main food of Red-breasted Sapsuckers is tree sap. They also eat some insects and fruit. They take more insects during the nesting season, and they feed insects to their young.

Nesting

Much is not well known about the nesting behaviors of Red-breasted Sapsuckers. They form monogamous pairs, and both members of the pair excavate the nest cavity. Nests are usually built in deciduous trees, such as aspen, alder, cottonwood, or willow, but they may also be in firs or other conifers. The nest is often high, 50-60 feet off the ground. Both sexes typically incubate the 5 to 6 eggs for 12 to 13 days. Both feed the young, which leave the nest after 25 to 29 days. The young are probably dependent on the parents for ten days or so thereafter. Red-breasted Sapsuckers typically raise a single brood each year.

Conservation Status

Red-breasted Sapsuckers are considered a keystone species, because many other species use the sap wells they drill. Their numbers may have declined because of habitat degradation, but these sapsuckers are still fairly numerous, and the Breeding Bird Survey has identified a non-significant annual increase in Washington since 1966. In the Cascades they hybridize with Red-naped Sapsuckers. Information from www.birdweb.org