Comments by: Cliff Weisse,
Kris Purdy, Mark Stackhouse (second),
Tim Avery, Steve Carr
(E-mails from Cliff Weisse, 13 Apr 2010)
I'd like to add to Tim's comments,
especially regarding 1st year YB/RN Sapsuckers. As far as molt timing
goes, most Red-naped have molted out of juvenile plumage by the end of
September while most Yellow-bellied will be in juvenile plumage through
the winter. So a good rule of thumb is, any juvenile plumaged sapsucker
after Oct 1st is probably a Yellow-bellied. It's not enough to just note
juvenile plumage but it's a good indication that you should take a closer
look.
In addition to molt timing the pattern of molt in the crown differs
between species. Red-naped molts in red crown feathers from front to rear,
Yellow-bellied molts these feathers randomly so the crown gradually gets
red. So a mostly juvenile sapsucker with some red feathers scattered
throughout the crown is a Yellow-bellied while one with red concentrated
in the front will be a Red-naped.
The pattern of the juvenile crown also differs, uniformly dark brown in
Red-naped and brown with tan or buffy streaks/spots on Yellow-bellied. The
overall effect is that the crown of Red-naped is considerably darker but a
close look will reveal the light/dark pattern of Yellow-bellied (Kaufman
cautions in Advanced Birding that some YBSA can have a dark crown like
RNSA).
Mark's wider supercilium field mark is also good for juveniles, with
Yellow-bellied having a wider supercilium than Red-naped, reflecting the
adult pattern. I've not seen anything that suggests overlap on this and
I've never seen a Red-naped with a wide Yellow-bellied like supercilium. I
have essentially no field experience with Yellow-bellied so I can't
comment on variation in that species. Even if it's eventually shown that
there is overlap here, it's still worth noting as a supporting field mark
and extremes may well be diagnostic.
Not much has been said (or maybe I missed it) about the width and color of
the rows of bars on the back. Although there is considerable variation and
some overlap, Yellow-bellied tends to have more extensively white back,
with wider rows of white bars or even a solidly barred back, while Red-naped
usually has two narrow rows of bars. On Red-naped the white can be washed
with yellow but the pale bars ten to be gold on Yellow-bellied. Color and
pattern on back may not be diagnostic but can be an important supporting
field mark and should be noted on any potential YBSA (both adults and
juveniles).
The same can be said of the throat pattern on adults. There is variation
but typical individuals will have the correct throat pattern for the
species. It may not clinch the ID by itself but make sure you note the
exact face/throat pattern.
Although some individuals may not be identifiable a careful analysis of
all field marks should lead you to a solid ID in most cases.
Cliff
(E-mails from Kris Purdy, 12 Apr 2010)
...I believe I found the controversial
bird (the only sapsucker in the grove) due to its red nape and
parsimonious amount of red on the throat relative to a typical Red-naped
Sapsucker. My conclusion, which I'll share up front and then support, is
that at best, the bird is a male Red-naped x Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and
at worst, it's an atypical male Red-naped.
While it took me 45 minutes to find the bird (or more properly, for the
bird to find me), after I finally saw it, I studied it from about 4-5:30
p.m. with a scope sometimes as close as 50 feet (17 of my paces) and only
18 feet high in an aspen, and with binoculars while standing only 30 feet
away. The bird has made many wounds in a small aspen which it visited four
separate times to lap the oozing sap. This was quite convenient as the
branches are small enough not to cover the bird and it often gave me the
Full Monty view--completely exposed frontal and then profile as I stood on
pavement looking through the scope. Here's what I saw:
HEAD PATTERN: The crown, throat and nape were all red. The crown and
throat were thoroughly red; I couldn't detect so much as one feather barb
worth of white on the throat. The red of the throat spread slightly down
onto the upper breast--not much. The nuchal patch was less red--slightly
diluted. However, it was very obvious, still bright, and had I seen the
color on a typical Red-naped, I wouldn't have thought it unusual. That
patch of red completely interrupted the post-ocular white stripe that
proceeds around the nape. There was no red whatsoever in the black
postocular stripe below the white postocular stripe (basically the
auricular area), and that black stripe was thicker than either white one.
The combination of red throat and red nape favors Red-naped Sapsucker.
The white post-ocular stripe was VERY narrow from the eyes to the red
nape--half the thickness of the white stripe draped over the base of the
upper mandible and that spills down the sides of the head and neck and
onto the upper breast. As the upper mandible white stripe proceeded down
the side of the neck and bordered the black chest area, it became a small
patch of bright golden yellow on both sides, and then became grayish
tinted with pale yellow lower on the breast and belly. The bright golden
yellow color was not visible unless the bird was somewhat alert, long and
low, rather than relaxed, hunched, and high when roosting on a trunk. The
narrowness of the white post-ocular stripe, thickness of the black stripe,
and bright yellow favors the Red-naped.
The black frame around the red throat was highly changeable. Sometimes it
was visible, very narrow and contiguous; sometimes it was ragged and
uneven because the red feathers of the throat were mussed, and sometimes
it was covered completely to the white stripe except for a bit of black at
the base of the bill, and black where the corners of the upper black chest
patch took over again. The visibility of that black border depended upon
how the bird arranged its feathers; I could see it at its best, very
narrow, after a feather fluffing. At no time did the red of the throat
cover or even fleck the white stripe aft of the black border. This is a
neutral factor. While a contiguous black border favors a Yellow-bellied,
the border was extremely narrow and I believe, atypical for a
Yellow-bellied.
CHEST PATCH: The black chest patch appeared to have slightly paler feather
edges, giving a faint scalloped effect. It was subtle. I can't find any
reference that mentions this. The size of the black chest patch might
favor the Yellow-bellied due to the minimum amount of red that spilled
down onto the extreme upper breast from the throat, but I'm not convinced
about this without studying the feature on a lot more Red-naped. It's a
relatively subtle feature.
BACK PATTERN: The two white mottled vertical stripes were relatively
well-ordered and easy to discern. The white on the back was not messy,
heavy or arranged in white horizontal barring rather than in two white
vertical stripes. The white down the back was just that--white. With an
arm twisting, I might hedge and say whitish, but nothing that could be
called tinged with buff, golden-buff, yellow, or even cream. The white was
white. The warmer colors I listed are more likely in a freshly molted bird
(new feathers in both species' adults by October) and might not be
significant giving the fading that has occured over the last six months;
however, Yellow-bellied are more apt to have a stronger buff or yellow
tinge. The color and pattern of the back favored a Red-naped.
I concluded the bird was a Red-naped or a hybrid because of the overall
lack of pale color in multiple places (very narrow white post-ocular
stripe, red nape instead of white, bright yellow in the white stripe down
the side of the face instead of white, well-ordered back pattern with more
apparent black than white). While I accept that the black border around
the red throat sometimes looked contiguous, it was very narrow and seemed
atypical of Yellow-bellied. I believe that every feature must fall into
place to call a sapsucker far out of range a Yellow-bellied due to
significant variation in the field marks of both the Yellow-bellied and
the Red-naped, and the tendency for the two to hybridize and produce
intermediate birds where their ranges overlap. Most of the characteristics
of today's sapsucker favored the Red-naped...
Kris
E-mails from Mark Stackhouse, 12 Apr 2010)
...I don't know if this is the same bird
that Bill reported (Bill will know more about that), but I'd have trouble
calling this a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
My reasons are:
The red on the nape does appear to be quite strong - a fairly significant
mark against YBSA. Although this is variable, and there can be YBSA with
red napes, and RNSA without red napes, the latter is
much, much more frequent than the former. YBSA with red napes are very
unusual. One with red this strong would be extremely unusual, and probably
would indicate a hybrid at best.
I can't see the border on the throat well enough to judge clearly, but it
doesn't seem to have as much of a complete black border as I would like to
see on YBSA. In a couple of frames there seems to be red going through to
the white, but again, I can't tell for sure from the photos. There doesn't
seem to be any white on the chin, so presumably this is a male.
The back markings are quite white, but that's o.k. for RNSA. What's really
important here is whether the white bars are divided in the middle into
two halves or rows. In both of the pictures that show the
back, there's clearly a black rib running down the middle - exactly as
would be expected for RNSA, but too well organized into two halves to
suggest YBSA.
Another feature that I have noticed on (all?) the (male at least) YBSA
that I have seen is that the white stripes on the face are quite heavy,
and that the post-ocular stripe in particular is noticeably wider in YBSA
than in RNSA. This bird has the narrow white post-ocular stripe that I
would associate with RNSA. I haven't seen this mentioned in the
literature, but have noticed it in all the cases I can remember seeing
personally, and in the photos I've seen.
In summary, the field marks I can see from these photos all trend more
towards RNSA than YBSA, and the one that might be in favor of YBSA is the
one I can't see very well. Even if the throat patch is bordered completely
in black, I think we would have to conclude that this was a hybrid
individual at best, given all the markings to the contrary. Inasmuch as
YBSA is the unexpected form here, it would seem more prudent to call this
one a RNSA...
Mark
(E-mails from Tim Avery, 12 Apr 2010)
... A couple things to think about with
sapsuckers in Utah. We have 2 breeders, the Williamson's of higher
elevation spruce forests, and the Red-naped, which can pretty much be in
any habitat with a riparian tract from the 4,500' elevation up (that
elevation may seem low, and I am still scratching my head as I write
this). Red-naped is by far the most common, and shows up here in northern
Utah by about mid-April, and is all but gone form the northern reaches by
mid-October. It does winter in the south, primarily Washington county.
Washington County presents an interesting winter time trifecta of
sapsucker goodness, when Red-naped are fairly common in riparian areas
(and fruit groves I suspect in vicinity to riparian tracts), Red-breasted
seem to wander in and can be hit or miss, and the occasional
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is present. Oh, and what about the hybrids? Red-naped
X Red-breasted are probably more common than pure Red- reasted. And who in
the heck know about Red-naped X Yellow-bellied--that's a river I don't
even want to float down.
The wintering birds present the best chance at finding and identifying
a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker--IF IT IS A 1ST WINTER BIRD. By the time most
of our Red-naped birds have hit southern Utah in full swing, they are
fading from 1st year, to adult plumage. Some likely hold that plumage into
November. But Yellow-bellied, as I mentioned previously, keep that
juvenile plumage through the winter until the following March. If you see
a juvenile red-naped or yellow-bellied type sapsucker at Lytle Ranch in
Dec, Jan, Feb, or Mar, there's a pretty good chance it's a Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker. Of course looking closely at the field marks, taking pictures
and studying others pictures of these birds can help a great deal. And as
others have mentioned these types of back and forths always produce some
good information.
Any bird that is considered an adult Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in Utah
should be heavily documented and photographed because nay-sayers like
myself will ask why? Based simply off science, history, and known
occurrence of said species in the state, along with the obvious plumage
characteristics that are troubling--this is a tough ID. I think several
people have said that, but its worth reiterating.
Lastly, the black border issue that people keep mentioning. This is a
highly variable plumage trait in both species. In 2005 I photographed 3 or
4 individuals in various locations in Wyoming that all showed a completed
black border surrounding a red throat, with faint red streaks in the nape.
All these birds were photographed in June and July, making them breeders,
and undoubtedly Red-naped Sapsuckers. Upon talking with several experts,
who had access to Cornell and the Smithsonian's collections, I was
rewarded with a photograph of a line of red-naped specimens showing how
variable the throat pattern. And it is highly variable. Like many species
of birds, there seems to be a wide range in this clade, that van make
things fun and make us pull our hair out. Field guides show us an average
representation of a species. A photographic guide, shows one particular
individual. A drawn guide shows a creation based off a wide variety of
studied specimens and photographs, giving the average looking bird. Not
taking into account the variability of a species.
Whew! Mouthful is done. Here are some pictures to go along with this.
Check out the first link for Red-naped Sapsuckers. Look specifically at
the ones with Wyoming locations in the descriptions:
http://www.timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=418
And Yellow-bellied of course. Most of these are 1st years from southern
Utah. But there is one nice adult from Wisconsin:
http://www.timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=428
...
Good Birding
Tim
(E-mails from Steve Carr, 12 Apr 2010)
Mark mentions not seeing the particular
feature (below) in the literature but actually seeing the broader white
stripes in the face and occiput -- in the Handbook of Birds of the World,
volume 7, pages 452-3, the authors of the description of the 2 sapsuckers
do point out those variances, so they are apparently quite steady as field
marks go.
--Steve
[Kaufmann also shows this feature in
Advanced Birding, Fig. 69, p. 175, but does not put words to it. -- Kris
(Purdy)]
(E-mails from Mark Stackhouse, 12 Apr 2010)
Another feature that I have noticed on (all?) the (male
at least) YBSA that I have seen is that the white stripes on the face are
quite heavy, and that the post-ocular stripe in particular is noticeably
wider in YBSA than in RNSA. This bird has the narrow white post-ocular
stripe that I would associate with RNSA. I haven't seen this mentioned in
the literature, but have noticed it in all the cases I can remember seeing
personally, and in the photos I've seen.
Mark
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