CDC Logo

BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Sphyrapicus nuchalis
Red-naped Sapsucker

 
Scientific Name: Sphyrapicus nuchalis Baird, 1858
English Name: Red-naped Sapsucker
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Classification Level: Species
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: B-RNSA
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Aves Piciformes Picidae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G5 (Apr 2016)
Provincial Status: S5B (Mar 2015)
BC List: Yellow
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status:
SARA Schedule:
General Status Canada: 4 - Secure (2005)
Migratory Bird Convention Act: Y
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description: Call a nasal or mewing "cheerrr" or "meeah" like yellow-bellied sapsucker; typical drumming pattern is a burst of several rapid thumps followed by several slow, rhythmic thumps (Peterson 1990, Howell and Webb 1995). Like other sapsuckers, leaves distinctive sign in horizontal rows of small, squarish sap wells around tree trunks, especially in broad-leaved trees. See Devillers (1970) and Dunn (1978) for detailed information on identification.
Global Reproduction Comments: Lays four to five eggs incubated by both female and male; incubation 12-13 days; young altricial; 25-26 days to fledging; both sexes attend young (Ehrlich et al. 1988). In Colorado, nests with eggs recorded throughout June. Nestlings noted late June to mid-July in Montana and Wyoming (Johnsgard 1986). In central Arizona, 100 percent of 18 nests monitored successfully fledged young (Li and Martin 1991). Re-use of same nest tree, but with a new cavity, each year suggests strong site fidelity (USDA Forest Service 1994).
Global Ecology Comments: Considered a "double keystone" species for its role excavating nest cavities and drilling sap wells, both of which are subsequently use by other species (Ehrlich and Daily 1988, Daily et al. 1993). Nest cavities are subsequently used by secondary cavity nesters, such as tree swallows (TACHYCINETA BICOLOR), violet-green swallows (TACHYCINETA THALASSINA), mountain bluebirds (SIALIA CURRUCOIDES), chickadees (POECILE spp.), northern flickers (COLAPTES AURATUS), and house wrens (TROGLODYTES AEDON; Daily et al. 1993). In one study, tree swallows and violet-green swallows were restricted to groves occupied by sapsuckers (Daily et al. 1993). Sap wells are used by 40+ species, including hummingbirds, warblers, chipmunks, squirrels, wasps and butterflies (Phillips 1964, Daily et al. 1993).

Centers of breeding abundance in British Columbia, the northern Rockies, northeastern Oregon, and the Colorado Rockies (Sauer et al. 1997). In Pacific Northwest, territory size reported as 4 hectares (Bull 1978). In California, defends territories 0.6 to 6.0 hectares in size (USDA Forest Service 1994).

Hybridizes with red-breasted sapsucker (SPHYRAPICUS RUBER) and yellow-bellied sapsucker (SPHYRAPICUS VARIUS) where distributions overlap and may produce viable hybrid offspring; hybrid and backcross matings, however, are apparently selected against (Scott et al. 1976, Johnson and Johnson 1985).
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		N /
Y /
Y /
na /
Global Migration Comments: Arrives in northern Rocky Mountains mainly April-May, departs late summer to early fall. In California, migrates north between end of March to end of April; fall migration lasts from September through the end of October (USDA Forest Service 1994). A transient and winter visitor in northwestern Mexico from late September to mid-April (Howell and Webb 1995).
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence)
Global Habitat Comments: Breeding habitat is primarily coniferous forest that includes aspen and other hardwoods (AOU 1998), at elevations ranging from near sea level to 2,900 meters (Walters et al. 2002). In the Northern Rockies, the species is most abundant in cottonwood and aspen forests, also observed in other riparian cover types and in harvested conifer forests. Of harvest types, most observations were in patch cuts, seed-tree cuts, clearcuts, and older clearcuts. Birds in harvested stands and in drier conifer forests were probably associated with patches of deciduous trees (Hutto and Young 1999). In the Centennial Mountains, Idaho, sapsuckers used xeric tall willow communities (Douglas et al. 1992). In Wyoming and Colorado, sapsuckers were closely associated with aspen and mixed habitats (Finch and Reynolds 1988). In Colorado subalpine forests, they were significantly associated with habitats where aspen occurs near (less than 50 meters) willow, and used the willow for foraging (Ehrlich and Daily 1988, Daily et al. 1993). In the Pacific Northwest, the species typically breeds in aspen, riparian cottonwood, ponderosa pine, mixed conifer, and white fir forests (Bull 1978).

This species is a primary cavity nester that excavates nest holes in snags or living trees with a dead or rotten interior, and it shows a strong preference for aspen (Johnsgard 1986, Li and Martin 1991, Daily 1993;) but also uses paper birch, cottonwood, alder, western larch, ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, and lodgepole pine (Bent 1939, USDA Forest Service 1994). It especially favors aspen with heartwood decay brought about by shelf fungus (Fomes igniarius var. populinus), a heart rot that infects roots and dead branch stubs and spreads from the base of trees upward, but leaves the sapwood intact (Kilham 1971, Crockett and Hadow 1975, Daily 1993, Dobkin et al. 1995).

In a Colorado study, sapsuckers placed the first nest cavity close to ground and then excavated progressively higher cavities in subsequent years. Nest cavities were usually freshly excavated during the season of use and most nests were in trees bearing nest cavities excavated during previous years. Nest height averaged 2.7 meters in trees with no other cavities, 6.0 meters in trees with more than one cavity (Daily 1993). In a study in Colorado and Wyoming, sapsuckers used both healthy aspen and aspen infected by shelf fungus, nested in trees 17 to 42 centimeter dbh (mean 31 centimeter dbh) and used cavities that were 1 to 11 meters high (mean 5 meters; Crockett and Hadow 1975). In Colorado, abundance did not vary with differences in understories (herbaceous, short shrub, tall shrub) of mature aspen stands (Finch and Reynolds 1987).

In Oregon and Washington, the species is reported to nest in snags greater than or equal to 25.4 centimeter dbh at nest heights at least 4.6 meters (Thomas et al. 1979). In snow pocket and riparian aspen groves of the northwestern Great Basin, it used live trees more often than dead trees; nest trees measured 27 centimeter dbh and 14.6 meters high on average, were located an average of 20 meters from edges, and mean canopy cover was 76 percent (Dobkin et al. 1995). In western larch/Douglas-fir forests of northwestern Montana, it nested in both small and large trees, ranging from 22 to 119 centimeter dbh and averaging 58 centimeter dbh (McClelland et al. 1979).

In a study in mixed conifer forest in central Arizona, sapsuckers were strongly associated with large aspen (greater than 15 centimeter dbh), aspen snags, and large conifers (greater than 15 centimeter dbh), and negatively associated with shrub cover. Sapsuckers nested exclusively in aspen; mean nest height was 13.3 meters and mean dbh of nest trees was 37.1 centimeters (Li and Martin 1991).

Foraging includes drilling for sap in conifer (e.g., western larch, pine) and deciduous trees (e.g. aspen, willow, cottonwood, birch. In California, sapsuckers drilled in and around pitchy bole wounds on ponderosa pine that were the result of earlier overstory removal and porcupine feeding (Oliver 1970).

In migration and winter, habitat include various forest and open woodland habitats, parks, orchards, and gardens (AOU 1998). In southern California, winter habitats include riparian desert and other riparian habitats (USDA Forest Service 1994). In northwestern Mexico the species is found in forests and edge feeding at mid- to upper levels; it may overlap with wintering yellow-bellied sapsuckers in northcentral Mexico and red-breasted sapsuckers in northern Baja California (Howell and Webb 1995). In western Mexico, Hutto (1992) found red-naped sapsucker only in pine-oak-fir forest.
Food Habits: Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: Drills rows of small holes in conifer and broad-leaved trees and drinks the sap that flows from these holes; also feeds on insects caught in the sap. Amount of sap taken and tree species used vary seasonally (Scott et al. 1977). Sap is most important in seasons when insects are not abundant. Also feeds on tree cambium, ants, beetles, wasps, caterpillars, beetles, and small amounts of fruit and berries (Scott et al. 1977, USDA Forest Service 1994).
Global Phenology: Diurnal: Adult, Immature
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): / /
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: Nesting range includes the Rocky Mountain region from the southeastern quarter of British Columbia, southwestern and southeastern Alberta, western and central Montana, and the Black Hills of South Dakota south, east of Cascades and Sierra Nevada, to east-central California, southern Nevada, central Arizona, southern New Mexico, and extreme western Texas (Davis and Guadalupe mountains) (AOU 1998). During the nonbreeding season, the range extends from southern California (casually Oregon), southern Nevada, Utah, and central New Mexico south to southern Baja California, Jalisco, Durango, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon (AOU 1998). Casual or accidental records exist elsewhere.

Coded range extent refers to breeding range.
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: Hammerson, G.
Last Updated: Mar 06, 2009
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, et al. 1990b. The Birds of British Columbia Vol. 2: Nonpasserines: Diurnal Birds of Prey through Woodpeckers. Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, BC.
Cicero, C., and N. K. Johnson. 1995. Speciation in sapsuckers (SPHYRAPICUS): III. Mitochondrial-DNA sequence divergence at the cytochrome-b locus. Auk 112:547-563.
Daily, G. C. 1993. Heartwood decay and vertical distribution of red-naped sapsucker nest cavities. Wilson Bull. 105:674-679.
Devillers, P. 1970. Identification and distribution in California of the SPHYRAPICUS VARIUS group of sapsuckers. California Birds 1:47-76.
Droege, S., and J.R. Sauer. 1990. North American Breeding Bird Survey, annual summary, 1989. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Biological Report 90(8). 22 pp.
Dunn, J. 1978. The races of the yellow-bellied sapsucker. Birding 10(4):142-146, 148-149.
Johnsgard, P. A. 1986. Birds of the Rocky Mountains with particular reference to national parks in the Northern Rocky Mountain region. Colorado Associated University Press, Boulder. xi + 504 pp.
Johnson, N. K., and C. B. Johnson. 1985. Speciation in sapsuckers (SPHYRAPICUS): II. Sympatry, hybridization, and mate preference in S. RUBER DAGGETTI and S. NUCHALIS. Auk 102:1-15.
Johnson, N. K., and R. M. Zink. 1983. Speciation in sapsuckers (SPHYRAPICUS): I. Genetic differentiation. Auk 100:871-884.
Peterjohn, B. G., J. R. Sauer, and W. A. Link. 1994. The 1992 and 1993 summary of the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Bird Populations 2:46-61.
Short, L. L. 1982. Woodpeckers of the World. Museum of Natural History [Greenville, Delaware], Monograph Series xviii + 676 pp.
Tobalske, B. W. 1992. Evaluating habitat suitability using relative abundance and fledging success of red-naped sapsuckers. Condor 94:550-553.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 2009. Species Summary: Sphyrapicus nuchalis. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 7, 2026).