Red-breasted Sapsucker

Sphyrapicus ruberOrder: PICIFORMESFamily: Woodpeckers (Picidae)

General

Red-breasted Sapsucker: Medium-sized woodpecker with black-and-white barred upperparts, yellow belly, and white rump. Head, nape, throat, and breast are bright red; moustache stripe is yellow. Wings are checkered black-and-white with large white patches. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has dark red-brown head, nape, and breast.

Range and Habitat

Red-breasted Sapsucker: Breeds from southeastern Alaska and British Columbia south to coastal California. Spends winters in most of its breeding range except interior British Columbia. Preferred habitats include woodlands, forest edges, and groves of aspen and alder.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"whee-ur", "mew"

Interesting Facts

The Red-breasted Sapsucker prefers to drill sap wells in riparian species such as those in the willow and birch families. They also like other deciduous trees like orchard crops.

The Rufous Hummingbird is closely associated with this sapsucker. It nests near sap wells and may follow the woodpecker around during the day, feeding at the wells the sapsucker keeps flowing.

These birds interbreed with the Red-naped Sapsucker or Yellow-bellied Sapsucker where their ranges overlap.

A group of sapsuckers are collectively known as a "slurp" of sapsuckers.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Red-breasted Sapsucker

Red-breasted Sapsucker: Medium-sized woodpecker with black-and-white barred upperparts, pale yellow belly, and white rump. The head, nape, throat, and breast are bright red; moustache stripe is white. The wings are checkered black-and-white with large white patches. Black bill, gray legs and feet.

● Song: "whee-ur", "mew"

● Foraging & Feeding: Red-breasted Sapsucker: Feeds on sap, bark cambium, insects, especially ants, and some fruits. Drills sap wells in a variety of tree species.

● Breeding & nesting: Red-breasted Sapsucker: Four to five white eggs are laid in a cavity drilled in a tree. Incubation ranges from 12 to 13 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Red-breasted Sapsucker: Other woodpeckers in range lack large white patches on wings.

Flight Pattern

Alternates several rapid shallow wing beats with short glides.

Red-breasted Sapsucker Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Red-breasted Sapsucker: Breeds from southeastern Alaska and British Columbia south to coastal California. Spends winters in most of its breeding range except interior British Columbia. Preferred habitats include woodlands, forest edges, and groves of aspen and alder.

^BreedingMonogamous, Loose colonies, Small colonies

^Population

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight1.7 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America