The red-naped sapsucker is a medium-sized North American woodpecker. Long thought to be a subspecies of the yellow-bellied sapsucker, it is now known to be a distinct species.
Region
Western North America
Typical Environment
Breeds from southern British Columbia and Alberta through the Rocky Mountains and Intermountain West to the Great Basin ranges and northern Arizona and New Mexico. Uses mixed conifer, quaking aspen, and riparian cottonwood–willow woodlands, especially where trees are sappy or diseased. In winter it moves south and downslope into pinyon–juniper, oak woodlands, riparian corridors, and suburban parks and orchards in the southwestern United States and northern–central Mexico. It readily exploits burns, forest edges, and groves near water where suitable sap trees are available.
Altitude Range
800–3200 m
Climate Zone
Temperate
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
This sapsucker drills neat rows of sap wells in living trees and returns repeatedly to lap up sap and the insects it attracts—benefiting hummingbirds and other species as well. It hybridizes where ranges meet with Red-breasted and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. Pairs excavate their own nest cavities, often in trembling aspen or other soft-wooded trees.
Female, Nevada
Holes drilled by a red-naped sapsucker in Platanus wrightii in Arizona, US
Temperament
solitary and territorial
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with bounding undulations
Social Behavior
Generally solitary outside the breeding season, defending sap wells vigorously from other birds. Breeding pairs form seasonally and excavate a cavity nest in aspen or other soft-wooded trees; both sexes incubate and feed the young. They maintain and revisit sap wells throughout the season, often establishing small feeding circuits.
Migratory Pattern
Seasonal migrant
Song Description
Gives nasal, mewing notes and squeals, along with soft churrs around feeding sites. Drumming is a rapid, irregular roll on resonant trunks, used for territory and mate signaling.
