Red-Breasted Sapsucker
Sphyrapicus ruber

Red-Breasted Sapsuckers breed in coniferous forests of the northern Pacific Coast. In San Diego County, they rarely breed, and then only at the highest elevations (4600 to 6000 feet).
Like the Red-Naped Sapsucker, these birds were once believed to be a subspecies of the Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. Given the common behaviors (sap-sucking), the similarity of their vocalizations and drumming sounds, it is easy to see how such a conclusion could be drawn. I liken the drumming cadence to the old vaudevillian comic “Shave-and-a-haircut, two-bits” rhythm.
Modern taxonomists characterize two subspecies of Red-Breasted Sapsucker:
- S. r. ruber lives in humid forests from southern Alaska south to southern Oregon. In winter, some individuals winter south to California.
- S. r. daggetti lives in the mountain regions of southwestern Oregon, south through California’s Sierra Nevada mountains and western Nevada and south to the Peninsular Ranges of southern California. Some birds move downslope in winter, sometimes as far as northern Baja California (Mexico).
My first meeting with this species came in San Diego’s mountains when I heard the characteristic drumming of a bird that was pounding out his rhythm on a metal road sign. It worked well and the sound could be heard from a mile away. The next time I met these birds I found them breeding in the Rogue River Valley near Medford Oregon.
12 Photos

Red-Breasted Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus ruber) |
Description: At the Kenneth Denman Wildlife Area, Rogue Valley Game Management Area, near Eagle Point, Oregon. |
Date Taken: 2015:06:08 10:45 |
Location:
Ken Denman Preserve |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/125 |
File Name: D3X9289-RedBreastedSapSucker |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Red-Breasted Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus ruber) |
Description: At the Kenneth Denman Wildlife Area, Rogue Valley Game Management Area, near Eagle Point, Oregon. |
Date Taken: 2015:06:08 10:45 |
Location:
Ken Denman Preserve |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/100 |
File Name: D3X9293-RedBreastedSapSucker |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Red-Breasted Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus ruber) |
Description: At the Kenneth Denman Wildlife Area, Rogue Valley Game Management Area, near Eagle Point, Oregon. |
Date Taken: 2015:06:08 10:46 |
Location:
Ken Denman Preserve |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/60 |
File Name: D3X9303-RedBreastedSapSucker |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Red-Breasted Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus ruber) |
Description: At the Kenneth Denman Wildlife Area, Rogue Valley Game Management Area, near Eagle Point, Oregon. |
Date Taken: 2015:06:09 9:24 |
Location:
Ken Denman Preserve |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/200 |
File Name: D3X9316-RedBreastedSapSucker |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Red-Breasted Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus ruber) |
Description: At the Kenneth Denman Wildlife Area, Rogue Valley Game Management Area, near Eagle Point, Oregon. |
Date Taken: 2015:06:09 9:48 |
Location:
Ken Denman Preserve |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/125 |
File Name: D3X9321-RedBreastedSapSucker |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Red-Breasted Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus ruber) |
Description: At the Kenneth Denman Wildlife Area, Rogue Valley Game Management Area, near Eagle Point, Oregon. |
Date Taken: 2015:06:09 10:01 |
Location:
Ken Denman Preserve |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/640 |
File Name: D3X9332-RedBreastedSapSucker |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Red-Breasted Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus ruber) |
Description: At the Kenneth Denman Wildlife Area, Rogue Valley Game Management Area, near Eagle Point, Oregon. |
Date Taken: 2015:06:09 10:11 |
Location:
Ken Denman Preserve |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/125 |
File Name: D3X9347-RedBreastedSapSucker |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Red-Breasted Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus ruber) |
Description: At the Kenneth Denman Wildlife Area, Rogue Valley Game Management Area, near Eagle Point, Oregon. |
Date Taken: 2015:06:09 10:19 |
Location:
Ken Denman Preserve |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/320 |
File Name: D3X9382-RedBreastedSapSucker |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Red-Breasted Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus ruber) |
Description: At the Kenneth Denman Wildlife Area, Rogue Valley Game Management Area, near Eagle Point, Oregon. |
Date Taken: 2015:06:09 10:28 |
Location:
Ken Denman Preserve |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/125 |
File Name: D3X9401-RedBreastedSapSucker |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Red-Breasted Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus ruber) |
Description: Along the road to Applegate Lake from Jacksonville, Oregon. |
Date Taken: 2015:06:10 10:01 |
Location:
Applegate Valley |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/100 |
File Name: D3X9542-RedBreastedSapSucker |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Red-Breasted Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus ruber) |
Description: Trout Pond Trail, near Cuyamaca Mountain. South of Julian, California. San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2013:06:15 7:00 |
Location:
Cuyamaca |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/640 |
File Name: D3X9553-RedBreastedSapSucker |
© 2013 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging |


Red-Breasted Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus ruber) |
Description: I found this bird tapping out its territorial rhythm near the Trout Pond Trail near Cuyamaca Mountain. South of Julian, California. San Diego County, California USA 2013-06-15. |
Date Taken: 2013:06:15 7:00 |
Location:
Cuyamaca |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/500 |
File Name: D3X9556-RedBreastedSapSucker |
© 2013 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |

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