birds resort to a group of trees, and confine their feeding activities
almost exclusively to them. Frank Bolles (1891), in his study of the
bird in the region about Mount Chocorua, N. H., terms these stations
“orchards.” He describes one of them as consisting “of about a dozen
canoe birches and red maples, most of which were dead, some decayed
and fallen. The tree most recently tapped was a red maple about forty
feet high and two feet through at the butt.” Of another “orchard,” half
a mile away, he says: “The tree in use last year was nearly dead. Two
neighboring birches showing scars of earlier years were quite dead.
All stood on the crest of a kame. About three rods along the ridge to
the eastward a red oak and two or three canoe birches were in use by
the birds.” This report shows that sapsuckers undoubtedly cause the
death of many trees as they return to their “orchards” year after year,
but most of these trees are of small value, especially in the heavily
forested regions where the birds commonly breed.
Bolles (1891) also notes the association of the sapsuckers with the
ruby-throated hummingbirds, which were attracted to the pits by the
running sap. In the main, hosts and guests got along well enough
together, although attacks occurred on both sides from time to time.
He says: “My notes refer again and again to the spiteful treatment of
the Hummers at Orchard No. 1. On the other hand at Orchard No. 2 they
say ‘Male and young one dipping. Hummer comes in and dips several times
_between them_ and they offer no objection.’”
Major Bendire (1895), half in jest, we may presume, brings an
accusation of inebriety against the sapsucker in these words:
That it should be fond of the sweet sap of trees does not
surprise me, as this contains considerable nourishment,
and likewise attracts a good many insects, which the birds
eat; but it is not so easy to account for its especial
predilection for the sap of the mountain ash, which
has a decidedly bitter taste, and I believe possesses
intoxicating properties, unless it be taken for the latter
purpose; and the fact that after drinking freely of the sap
of this tree it may often be seen clinging to the trunk for
hours at a time, as if stupefied, seems to confirm this
view. It is well known that some of our birds indulge in
such disreputable practices, and possibly this species must
be included in the number, as there are sots among birds as
well as among the genus _Homo_.
_Voice._--Just as the sapsucker in its behavior is conspicuous, almost
boisterous, at one season of the year and retiring and unobtrusive at
another, in the same way it is very noisy in spring and the early part
of the nesting period and comparatively silent afterward.
Dr. C. Hart Merriam (1879) speaks of the bird thus: “In few species can
the date of arrival, in spring, be ascertained with such precision as
in the bird now under consideration; for, no sooner are they here, and
recovered from the fatigue of their northward journey, than the country
fairly resounds with their cries and drumming. * * * Noisy, rollicking
fellows, they are always chasing one another among the trees, screaming
meanwhile at the top of their voices, and when three or four vociferous
males alight on the same tree, as often happens, their boisterous cries
are truly astonishing.”
William Brewster (1876a) mentions a “peculiar snarling cry” used as an
alarm note, and of a pair at the nest he says:
Watching once a nest for an hour or two, I remarked that
the birds relieved each other in the labors of incubation
at intervals averaging about half an hour each. The one
that had been absent would alight just below the hole, and,
uttering a low _yew-ick, yew-ick_, its mate would appear
from within, when, after the interchange of a few notes of
endearment, the sitting bird would fly off and the other
instantly enter the hole. * * *
Both young and old utter most frequently a low snarling cry
that bears no very distant resemblance to the _mew_ of the
Catbird. The adults have also two other notes--one, already
spoken of, when the opposite sexes meet; the other a clear,
ringing _cleur_, repeated five or six times in succession,
and heard, I think, only in the spring.
Of the voice of the sapsucker, Bendire (1895) says: “Its ordinary call
note is a whining ‘whäee,’ and it utters a number of other sounds,
some of these resembling the calls of the Blue Jay, and others those
of the Red-shouldered Hawk. During the mating season, when the sexes
are chasing each other, a series of notes like ‘hoih-hoih,’ a number of
times repeated, are frequently heard. Although generally disposed to be
more or less noisy, while clinging to their food trees they are always
silent as far as my observations go.”
The note mentioned above does resemble the cry of the blue jay somewhat
in form, but the notes of the two birds need never be confused. The
sapsucker’s may be as long as the blue jay’s, or the _caw_ of a crow;
again it may be given as a very short syllable. The note commonly
is not nearly so loud as the blue jay’s and the tone of voice is
different; it is a complaining whine rather than a boisterous shout.
Another note, a minor note heard only when one is near the bird, is
very like the explosive _hit_ of the red-breasted nuthatch--the little
conversational note that the nuthatches use as they scramble over the
bark, not the nasal _toot_.
The most remarkable of the sapsucker’s utterances, in that it does not
resemble a bird note at all, is a single syllable sounded regularly
over and over again--a low-toned _tuck_, like slow, sharp strokes on
a nonresonant branch. This note might sometimes be mistaken for a
chipmunk’s pluck, except that it lacks completely any ringing quality
of tone.
_Field marks._--The colored plates in the illustrated books on
ornithology lead one to expect to find the yellow-bellied sapsucker
rather a brilliantly colored, conspicuous bird. However, when we meet
it in the field, the colors, so bright and sharply outlined in the
picture of the bird, are often dimmed by the shadows of limbs and
leaves, and as the chief color is of a neutral tint, not unlike the
bark of many trees, we may sometimes pass the bird by, unnoticed. Our
first impression of the bird, when we catch a glimpse of it, is of a
medium-sized woodpecker, dull old-gold in color, and almost without
markings. A glass, however, brings out a thin line of white along the
length of the closed wing, a red or reddish forehead and fore part of
the crown, a black mark across the upper breast, and, if we look very
carefully, a yellowish belly.
W. L. McAtee (1911) points out the black mark is characteristic of
nearly all sapsuckers, and he links it up pretty successfully with a
red forehead. For example, The red-breasted sapsucker lacks the black
mark, but has a red head; the flicker, not a sapsucker, has a “black
spot on breast, but top of head from bill is not red”; the pileated
woodpecker “not a sapsucker. Entire lower parts black.” He continues:
“All sapsuckers have yellow bellies, few other woodpeckers have; all
sapsuckers have a conspicuous white patch on the upper part of the
wing, as seen from the side when clinging to a tree; white wing patches
in other woodpeckers are on the middle or lower part of the wings.
The yellow-bellied sapsucker of transcontinental range is the only
woodpecker having the front of the head (i. e., from bill to crown) red
in combination with a black patch on the breast.”
_Fall._--Generally when we see the yellow-bellied sapsucker in autumn,
during its slow journey toward the Southern States, it is alone. A
single bird may settle for two or three days in our dooryard, if there
be a tree there to its liking, perching well up in it and rarely moving
away. Here it is inconspicuous: its brownish color matches the bark
closely; it moves deliberately, as if to avoid notice; by hopping
behind a branch it keeps out of sight most of the time; and commonly it
is perfectly silent. On occasion it makes use of its whining cry, and
if two birds meet they may utter the red-breasted-nuthatch note, but as
a rule this woodpecker is one of the quietest of migrants.
If we watch a bird for a time, we see that it is picking at the bark,
dislodging bits of it in searching for concealed food. It hops forward,
backward, and around the limbs, moving easily, taking rather long,
rapid hops, seeming careless of a fall. When investigating crevices
and peering under flakes of bark it cranes its neck, turning its head
from side to side. The neck then appears constricted, like a pileated
woodpecker in miniature.
At other times it may drill holes--even the young birds of the year,
which can have had little experience in this kind of work. They drill
with a sideways stroke, to one side, then the other, then, perhaps,
a stroke straight at the branch. In this manner, before very long, a
small area is denuded of bark, the sideways strokes giving it an oval
shape with the long axis parallel to the ground. However, at this
season, mid-October, in the latitude of Boston, little sap rewards
their efforts.
_Winter._--Sapsuckers spend the winter mainly in the Southern States,
Central America, and on the islands south of North America, but there
are a few records indicating that a bird rarely may remain nearly or
quite as far north as the southern limit of the breeding range. For
example, Fred. H. Kennard (1895) reports finding one in Brookline,
Mass., on February 6, 1895. Collected, “he proved to be in fine, fat
condition”; and Harriet A. Nye (1918) watched, in Fairfield Center,
Maine, a bird throughout the winter of 1911, in which the temperature
fell to 32° below zero. Apples formed a considerable part of this
bird’s diet, although he often hunted over the branches and trunks of
trees. He was last seen April 5 “as sprightly as ever.”
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--North and Central America and the West Indies, casual in
Bermuda and Greenland.
_Breeding range._--This species breeds =north= to southeastern Alaska
(probably Skagway); southern Mackenzie (Nahanni Mountain, Fort
Providence, and Fort Resolution); northern Manitoba (Cochrane River
and probably Fort Churchill); Ontario (Lac Seul and probably Moose
Factory); Quebec (Montreal, Quebec City, Godbout, Ellis Bay, and
probably Eskimo Point); and Newfoundland (Fox Island and Nicholsville).
=East= to Newfoundland (Nicholsville, Deer Lake, and Harrys River);
Nova Scotia (Sydney and Halifax); Maine (Bucksport and Livermore
Falls); southeastern New Hampshire (Ossipee and Monadnock Mountain);
western Massachusetts (Chesterfield); New Jersey (Midvale); and western
Virginia (Sounding Knob, Cold Mountain, and White Top Mountain).
=South= to southwestern Virginia (White Top Mountain); northwestern
Indiana (Kouts); central Illinois (Peoria); eastern Missouri (St.
Louis); Iowa (Keokuk, Grinnell, and Ogden); southeastern South Dakota
(Sioux Falls and probably Vermillion); New Mexico (Pot Creek and
Diamond Peak); Arizona (Buffalo Creek and Kaibab Plateau); and southern
California (San Bernardino Mountains, San Jacinto Mountains, and
Mount Pinos). =West= to California (Mount Pinos, Big Creek, Cisco,
Carlotta, and Mount Shasta); western Oregon (Prospect, Elkton, Salem,
and Tillamook); Washington (Tacoma and Seattle); British Columbia
(Beaver Creek, Alta Lake, and Masset); and southeastern Alaska (Craig,
Wrangell, and probably Skagway).
_Winter range._--The winter range extends =north= to southwestern
British Columbia (Comox); northeastern Oregon (Haines); central Arizona
(Oak Creek); southern New Mexico (Silver City); Kansas (Wichita,
Topeka, and Bendena); Missouri (Lexington and Nelson); Illinois
(Bernadotte and Mount Carmel); southern Indiana (Vincennes and probably
Bloomington); southern Ohio (Hamilton and Hillsboro); northern Maryland
(Hagerstown); southeastern Pennsylvania (Edge Hill); and southern New
Jersey (Newfield). From this point the species is found in winter
=south= along the Atlantic coast to southern Florida (Miami, Royal Palm
Hammock, and Key West); the Bahama Islands (Nassau, Watling Island, and
Great Inagua); and the northern Lesser Antilles (St. Croix). =South=
to the Lesser Antilles (St. Croix); rarely Haiti (Gonave Island);
and rarely Costa Rica (Coli Blanco and Punta Arenas). From this
southwestern point the winter range extends northward along the western
coast of Central America (including Baja California) to California;
Oregon; rarely Washington; and southwestern British Columbia (probably
Barkley Sound and Comox). In the eastern part of the country the
species is found irregularly =north= to southern Wisconsin (Madison);
southern Michigan (Ann Arbor and Detroit); southern Ontario (London and
Lindsay); southern Vermont (Bennington); and central Maine (Fairfield
and Dover).
The range as above outlined covers the entire species, which has been
separated into four subspecies or geographic races. The typical form,
known as the yellow-bellied sapsucker (_S. v. varius_), is found during
the breeding season over all the northern parts of the range east of
Alaska and south to Missouri and the mountains of western Virginia. In
winter it is found south to Central America and the West Indies. The
red-naped sapsucker (_S. v. nuchalis_) is found chiefly in the Rocky
Mountain region from central British Columbia south (in winter) to Baja
California and central Mexico. The northern red-breasted sapsucker (_S.
v. ruber_) breeds from southeastern Alaska south through the mountains
to western Oregon and in winter to central California. The southern
red-breasted sapsucker (_S. v. daggetti_) is confined to the mountains
of California and northern Baja California.
_Spring migration._--Early dates of spring arrival are: Quebec--
Montreal, March 25; Westmount, March 30. New Brunswick--Scotch
Lake, April 12; St. John, April 22. Nova Scotia--Wolfville, April
30. Northern Michigan--Blaney, April 2; Sault Ste. Marie, April 10;
Houghton, April 24. Minnesota--Elk River, March 26; Minneapolis, March
29. Nebraska--Omaha, April 14. South Dakota--Faulkton, April 15. North
Dakota--Fargo, April 15. Manitoba--Aweme, March 31; Margaret, April
17. Saskatchewan--Indian Head, April 4. Colorado--Estes Park, April
27. Wyoming--Yellowstone Park, May 12. Montana--Columbia Falls, April
13. Alberta--Stony Plain, April 1; Edmonton, May 2. Mackenzie--Fort
Simpson, May 11. Alaska--Chilkat River, April 12; Admiralty Island,
April 17; Forrester Island, May 6.
_Fall migration._--Late dates of fall departure are: Alberta--Glenevis,
September 24. Montana--Fortine, September 20; Kalispell, October 1.
Wyoming--Yellowstone Park, October 2. Colorado--De Beque, October 1;
Denver, October 8; Walden, October 16. Saskatchewan--Indian Head,
September 25. Manitoba--Shoal Lake, September 30; Treesbank, October
14; Margaret, October 24. North Dakota--Rice Lake, October 1; Fargo,
October 2. South Dakota--Yankton, October 5; Faulkton, October 20.
Nebraska--Monroe Canyon, Sioux County, October 4. Minnesota--Elk
River, October 15; Lanesboro, October 19. Northern Michigan--Blaney,
October 1; Houghton, October 2; Sault Ste. Marie, October 22. Nova
Scotia--Sable Island, October 9. New Brunswick--Scotch Lake, November
4. Quebec--Montreal, October 1; Quebec City, October 2.
_Casual records._--According to Reid (1884) several specimens of this
species were taken in Bermuda during the period 1847-1850 when it bred
in that area. He also noted it in 1875. A specimen was found dead at
Julianshaab, Greenland, in July 1845; another was obtained in that
general region about 1858; and an adult female was collected at Loup
Bay, Labrador, on May 5, 1899.
_Egg dates._--Alberta: 19 records, May 20 to June 18; 10 records,
May 30 to June 11, indicating the height of the season.
California: 13 records, May 12 to June 21; 7 records, May 30 to
June 9.
Colorado: 19 records, May 27 to June 15; 10 records, June 4 to 12.
Illinois: 5 records, April 20 to June 3.
Nova Scotia: 14 records, May 28 to June 15; 7 records, June 5 to 10.
Oregon: 24 records, May 12 to June 12; 12 records, May 25 to June 2.
SPHYRAPICUS VARIUS NUCHALIS Baird
RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER
HABITS
The western race of the eastern yellow-bellied sapsucker occupies an
extensive range in the general region of the Rocky Mountains, chiefly
east of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges, from central British
Columbia and Alberta to western Texas and Arizona.
Ridgway (1914) gives a full description of this form, which is worth
quoting in view of his remarks as to its status; he describes it as--
Similar to _S. v. varius_, but with much less white on
back, this forming two definite but broken stripes,
converging posteriorly; nape always with more or less of
red, under parts less strongly tinged with yellow, and wing
and tail averaging decidedly longer; adult male with red
of throat more extended, both laterally and posteriorly,
covering malar region (except anterior portion), where
meeting white sub-auricular stripe; adult female with at
least lower half of throat red (sometimes whole throat red,
only the chin being white); young much darker above than
corresponding stage of _S. v. varius_, the pileum dark
sooty slate, white markings on back less brownish, and
under parts much less yellowish, the chest and foreneck
brownish gray or grayish brown (instead of buffy brown),
and usually less distinctly barred or lunulated with dusky.
On account of the conspicuous difference in coloration
of the young, definite difference in color pattern of
back, head, and neck in adults, and comparative rarity
of intermediate specimens (which are far less common,
relatively, than in the case of _Colaptes_), I believe that
it would be better to consider this form as specifically
distinct from _S. varius_. It is true that specimens do
occur that are intermediate between _S. nuchalis_ and _S.
varius_, as well as between the former and if _S. ruber_;
but they may be (and I believe they are) hybrids; certainly
there is no more reason for not considering them as such
than in the case of _Colaptes_; and if _S. nuchalis_ is to
be considered as merely a subspecies of _S. varius_ then,
most certainly, must _S. ruber_ also.
Mr. Ridgway (1877) says of its haunts:
Throughout the country between the Sierra Nevada and the
Rocky Mountains, the red-naped woodpecker is a common
species in suitable localities. Its favorite summer-haunts
are the groves of large aspens near the head of the upper
cañons, high up in the mountains, and for this reason we
found it more abundant in the Wahsatch and Uintah region
than elsewhere; indeed, but a single individual was
observed on the Sierra Nevada, and this one was obtained on
the eastern slope of the range, near Carson City. It was
very rare throughout western Nevada, but became abundant
as we approached the higher mountains in the eastern
portion of the State. Among the aspen groves in Parley’s
Park, as well as in similar places throughout that portion
of the country, it was by far the most abundant of the
Woodpeckers; and it seemed to be as strictly confined to
the aspens as _S. thyroideus_ was to the pines.
The Weydemeyers (1928) say that, in northwestern Montana, “it occurs
most abundantly and typically in mixed broad-leaf and conifer
associations along streams, where it nests regularly. It ranges less
commonly into virgin forests of fir, larch, yellow pine, and hemlock
(_Tsuga heterophylla_) in the valleys; and into arborvitae, lodgepole
pine, and spruce woods of the foothills. Occasional birds are seen
in alpine fir and spruce woods upward to the lower borders of the
Hudsonian zone.”
_Courtship._--M. P. Skinner says in his notes: “On May 13, 1915, I
saw a red-naped sapsucker drumming on a hollow, dead lodgepole pine;
soon he flew to the top of another pine, where his mate was, and
the two began bobbing and curtsying in true cake-walk fashion much
like flickers, except that these sapsuckers were on a vertical stub.
There was no movement of the feet, but the body was bent from side to
side, and there was a constant ‘juggling’ motion. The head was tilted
back and the bill pointed up at an angle of sixty degrees, with neck
outstretched. The neck, head, and bill were in constant motion. That of
the bill reminded me of a musical director’s baton.”
_Nesting._--The Weydemeyers (1928) say of its nesting habits: “As
elsewhere in the state, this bird in Lincoln County nests most commonly
in live aspens. Our records for this area include four nests in live
aspens, one in a live larch, and one in a dead Engelmann spruce. These
nests were all in the Transition zone, near streams, Three of the
nests in aspens were in a single tree, in successive years. Nest-hole
preparation usually commences immediately upon the arrival of the birds
in the spring, about April 20.”
Major Bendire (1895) gives an attractive account of finding a nest of
this woodpecker in a live aspen, in a small grove of these trees, near
Camp Harney, Oregon, on June 12, 1877: “Their nesting site was directly
over my head, about 20 feet from the ground. * * * The entrance to the
excavation was exceedingly small, not over 1¼ inches in diameter, about
8 inches deep, and about 4 inches wide at the bottom. It contained
three nearly fresh eggs, lying partly embedded in a layer of fine
chips.”
He quotes the following observations of Denis Gale:
My observations have been that this subspecies invariably
selects for its nesting site a living aspen tree. I have
never met with it in any other. This tree favors the
mountain gulches and low, sheltered hillsides, at an
altitude of from 7,000 to 10,000 feet. Above this point
they do not attain sufficient size, and are mostly dwarfed
and scrubby. Here in Colorado _Sphyrapicus varius nuchalis_
is seldom found above 9,000 feet or much below 8,000 feet.
The aspen tree is short lived, and ere much of a growth is
attained, a cross section, in the majority of instances,
will show a discolored center of incipient decay, involving
half or two-thirds of its entire diameter, with a sound,
white sap zone on the outer circumference, next to the
bark. This sound, healthy zone nourishes the tree until the
decayed core discovers itself in some withered limbs, and
frequently the top of the tree manifests the canker.
Such trees the Red-naped Sapsucker selects for its nesting
site, and with great perseverance chisels through this
tough, sound zone, from 1 to 1½ inches in thickness,
commencing with a very small hole and gradually extending
its circumference with each stage of the deepening
process, working from the lowest center out, till the
exact circumference of the intended aperture of entrance
is attained. In thus radiating in circles from the central
point the minute chips are chiseled out with considerable
ease. This mode of working is observed until the tough zone
is worked through; what remains then is comparatively easy
work; the soft, soggy, lifeless inside is worked into and
downward with greater facility, and a roomy, gourd-shaped
excavation quickly follows, the female doing the excavating
from beginning to end, and, according to exigencies,
completes it in from six to ten days. * * *
_Sphyrapicus varius nuchalis_ usually insists upon a new
excavation each year. The height of the nesting sites from
the ground varies from 5 to 30 feet; the full set of eggs
is four or five in number; sometimes a smaller number of
eggs mark a full set, presumably the nest of one of last
year’s birds. Fresh eggs may be looked for in Colorado from
June 1 to 15, and should the first set be taken, a second
one may generally be found from ten to fifteen days later;
and, as a rule, the second nesting site will not be greatly
distant from the first one. Several nests of this species
may be found within a short distance of each other in the
same aspen grove.
_Eggs._--Major Bendire (1895) says of the eggs: “The number of eggs
to a set varies from three to six, usually four or five; these are
mostly ovate in shape, a few are more elliptical ovate; they are pure
white in color; the shell is fine grained and moderately glossy.” The
measurements of 40 eggs average 22.89 by 17.28 millimeters; the eggs
showing the four extremes measure =24.38= by 16.76, 23.60 by =18.50=,
=20.83= by 16.76, and 21.34 by =16.26= millimeters.
_Young._--Major Bendire (1895) says: “I believe that both sexes assist
in the labor of excavating the nesting site, the female appearing to
do the greater part of the work, however, which is frequently very
laborious, and that the male also shares the duties of incubation,
which lasts about fourteen days.”