Red-naped Sapsucker

The Red-naped Sapsucker is a medium-sized woodpecker of interior western mountains, essentially a western counterpart to the more easterly Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, which it closely resembles and with which it was formerly considered a single species. It shares the black-and-white striped face, black bib, and barred wings typical of sapsuckers, along with a faint yellowish wash on the belly.

The key distinguishing feature is a red patch on the nape connecting to the red crown patch, a feature usually absent or much reduced in the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Males show a red throat, while females typically show a white throat with some red at the chin.

Like other sapsuckers, this species is best known for excavating neat rows of shallow sap wells in aspen and conifer bark, a resource exploited by many other species including hummingbirds.

Key Field Marks

• Black-and-white striped face with a red crown patch extending down to a red nape patch
• Black bib; pale yellowish-washed underparts
• Long white wing stripe visible at rest
• Rows of small, evenly spaced sap wells in aspen or conifer bark are a telltale sign

Similar Species

• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (mostly separate range to the east, narrow hybrid zone in the Rockies) usually lacks the red nape patch or shows only a trace of it, and has a more solid black border around the red throat.
• Red-breasted Sapsucker (Pacific coast) has the head and breast almost entirely red rather than showing the black-and-white striped face pattern.

Red-naped Sapsuckers breed in montane forests of the interior western United States and southwestern Canada, particularly in aspen groves and mixed aspen-conifer stands at mid to high elevations in the Rocky Mountains and Great Basin ranges. They narrowly overlap and occasionally hybridize with Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers where ranges meet.

This species is migratory, wintering in the southwestern United States and Mexico, and returns to breed in mountain aspen stands each spring.

Behavior

Like other sapsuckers, this species establishes and maintains systems of sap wells on preferred aspen or conifer trees, returning repeatedly through the day and defending the wells from other species that come to feed.

Voice

The call is a nasal, mewing note similar to other sapsuckers, and the drum pattern is an irregular, stuttering series distinct from the steady drumming of most other woodpeckers.

Feeding

Sap forms a major part of the diet, especially from aspen, supplemented by insects attracted to the sap wells, as well as fruit and berries; many other species, including hummingbirds and warblers, rely on Red-naped Sapsucker wells as a food source in mountain habitats.

Nesting & Breeding

Both parents excavate a nest cavity, most often in a live aspen weakened by heart-rot fungus, laying 3-7 eggs, with both sexes sharing incubation and feeding duties through the nesting period.