Family: Picidae, Woodpeckers view all from this family

Description 8-9" (20-23 cm). A furtive woodpecker mottled with off-white and black. Male has red crown, nape patch, and throat, throat patch incompletely enclosed by black. Female has white chin and red throat, lacks red nape patch. Both sexes dull yellowish below. Immatures dull brown. All plumages have conspicuous white wing patch, visible both at rest and in flight.

Habitat Edges of coniferous forests, woodlands, groves of aspen and alder.

Nesting 4-6 white eggs in a cavity drilled in a tree.

Range Breeds in Rocky Mountains from British Columbia and Alberta south to east-central California, central Arizona, and southern New Mexico. Winters north to southern California, central Arizona, and central New Mexico.

Voice   A soft slurred whee-ur or mew.

Discussion The Red-naped Sapsucker is the common member of the sapsucker group in the Rocky Mountains. It interbreeds with the Yellow-bellied at the eastern edge of its breeding range and with the Red-breasted to the West. The resulting hybrids can be difficult to identify. All three birds were formerly considered a single species.