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Red-breasted Sapsucker
Sphyrapicus ruber |
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STANFORD LOCATIONS: Uncommon migrant and winter resident throughout campus. Excavates wells in eucalyptus, coast live oaks, cedars, and other trees, feeding on extruded sap and entangled insects. In fall and winter, a few can be found fairly easily in the Arboretum by looking for recently excavated wells. |
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Location |
Type |
Mating System |
Parental Care |
2ndary Diet |
Strategy |
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I: 12-13 DAYS ALTRICIAL |
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15 feet - 60 feet (To 100 feet ?) |
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(4-7) MONOG |
MF(?) |
FRUIT |
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| BREEDING: | Aspen-pine assoc and conif forest, including humid coastal lowlands. N populations breed at lower elevations than s populations. ? broods. |
| DISPLAYS: | Not well known, but probably similar to Yellow-bellied Sapsucker's. |
| NEST: | At low elevation prefers live decid tree (alder, cottonwood, aspen); at higher elevations fir, riparian alder or willow preferred. Decid snags also used. Lined with chips. |
| EGGS: | White. 1.0" (24 mm). |
| DIET: | Esp ants; drill and strip bark to produce perennial sap wells. Fledglings taught sapsucking while clinging to nest tree, but still fed insects, fruit. |
| CONSERVATION: | Winters s to n Baja. |
| NOTES: | Warblers, hummingbirds, other species use sap wells. Hybridization between Red-breasted and Red-naped Sapsuckers restricted to narrow zone in s c OR, n e CA, and along CA-NV border to s NV; hybrid zone stable because hybrids are less successful. |
| ESSAYS: | Species and Speciation; Superspecies; Commensal Feeding; Hybridization. |
| REFERENCES: | Short, 1982. |
| Help | Abbreviations | Species-Alphabetical | Species-Taxonomic | Essays-Alphabetical | |
| Except for Stanford Locations, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988). | |||||