Red-Naped Sapsucker
Sphyrapicus nuchalis
The Red-Naped Sapsucker is a close relative of Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers and Red-Breasted Sapsuckers. When ornithologist Spencer F. Baird first described this bird in 1858, he assumed it was a subspecies of the Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. It wasn’t until 1998 that the AOU recognised it as belonging to its own species. All three closely related bird species will interbreed, but the most common union is with the Red-Naped and Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers.
These birds breed in mixed forests in the Rocky Mountains of Canada and the intermountain and Great Basin regions of North America. Their breeding range extends south as far as Arizona and New Mexico. Winters drive most of these woodpeckers south, into the southern reaches of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and in northwestern Mexico and Baja California.
Red-Naped Sapsuckers usually excavate a fresh cavity in a standing dead tree each year. Other birds exploit these nest holes in subsequent years. In November 2020 I watched one of these birds at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior Arizona, as it worked on the sap from a Honey Mesquite tree (Prosopis glandulosa). The sapsucker was not the only avian beneficiary from these labors, Several other species, including hummingbirds, kinglets, Gila Woodpeckers and Verdin, took turns gleaning the tree and foraging for sustenance.

Red-Naped Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus nuchalis) |
Description: As seen from Skyline Drive outside of Pinedale Wyoming. |
Date Taken: 2015:05:14 9:06 |
Location:
Skyline Drive |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/9.0, 1/3200 |
File Name: D3X2310-RedNapedSapsucker |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Red-Naped Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus nuchalis) |
Description: Garden Canyon at Fort Huachuca. Huachuca Mountains near Sierra Vista Arizona USA 2015-10-25. |
Date Taken: 2015:10:25 10:34 |
Location:
Garden Canyon |
Camera Information: NIKON D7200, 400 mm, f/6.3, 1/800 |
File Name: D721872-RedNapedSapsucker |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |


Red-Naped Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus nuchalis) |
Description: Garden Canyon at Fort Huachuca. Huachuca Mountains near Sierra Vista Arizona USA 2015-10-25. |
Date Taken: 2015:10:25 10:34 |
Location:
Garden Canyon |
Camera Information: NIKON D7200, 400 mm, f/6.3, 1/800 |
File Name: D721878-RedNapedSapsucker |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |


Red-Naped Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus nuchalis) |
Description: Garden Canyon at Fort Huachuca. Huachuca Mountians near Sierra Vista Arizona. |
Date Taken: 2015:10:25 10:36 |
Location:
Garden Canyon |
Camera Information: NIKON D7200, 400 mm, f/6.3, 1/640 |
File Name: D721881-RedNapedSapsucker |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |


Red-Naped Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus nuchalis) |
Description: Garden Canyon at Fort Huachuca. Huachuca Mountians near Sierra Vista Arizona. |
Date Taken: 2015:10:25 10:36 |
Location:
Garden Canyon |
Camera Information: NIKON D7200, 400 mm, f/6.3, 1/640 |
File Name: D721882-RedNapedSapsucker |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |


Red-Naped Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus nuchalis) |
Description: Twin Lakes in Mammoth California elevation 8625 feet. Mono County California in the eastern Sierras. |
Date Taken: 2017:07:18 10:53 |
Location:
Twin Lakes |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/800 |
File Name: RedNapedSapsucker_D5X0015-TwinLakes |
© 2017 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Red-Naped Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus nuchalis) |
Description: I spent an early mid-November morning at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior Arizona, where I found a sap tree made by this Red-Naped Sapsucker. Several other species were reaping the benefits of this food source. |
Date Taken: 2020:11:16 10:39 |
Location:
Boyce-Thompson Arboretum |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/800 |
File Name: RedNapedSapsucker_D5X0868-BoyceThompson |
© 2020 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Red-Naped Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus nuchalis) |
Description: I spent an early mid-November morning at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior Arizona, where I found a sap tree made by this Red-Naped Sapsucker. Several other species were reaping the benefits of this food source. |
Date Taken: 2020:11:16 10:37 |
Location:
Boyce-Thompson Arboretum |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/800 |
File Name: RedNapedSapsucker_D5X0786-BoyceThompson |
© 2020 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Red-Naped Sapsucker(Sphyrapicus nuchalis) |
Description: I spent an early mid-November morning at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior Arizona, where I found a sap tree made by this Red-Naped Sapsucker. Several other species were reaping the benefits of this food source. |
Date Taken: 2020:11:16 10:37 |
Location:
Boyce-Thompson Arboretum |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/800 |
File Name: RedNapedSapsucker_D5X0770-BoyceThompson |
© 2020 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |

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