Hi Cynthia,
The fact the bird is still clearly a juvenile in January is a quite
convincing argument in favor of it being a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, rather
than a Red-naped, all by itself. Red-naped Sapsuckers retain their juvenile
plumage for only a short time, essentially looking like adults by October.
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers retain at least some aspects of their juvenile
plumage until much later, even into April in some cases. The distinct
differences in plumage progression between the two is, in my opinion, a
strong argument in favor of considering the two separate species, in spite
of (apparent) hybridization between them. Really neat bird to find at your
own feeder!
Cheers,
Rob Parsons
Winnipeg, MB
CANADA
[email protected]
----- Original Message -----
From: Cynthia Madsen
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 2:26 PM
Subject: [cobirds] Second sighting of Juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in
Centennial
I have been rewarded with my second visit of a juvenile Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker who likes to work a black walnut tree that is in my neighbor's
yard just on the other side of my south fence.
I first saw this sapsucker on Jan. 1st while doing the FeederWatch for
Cornell. I was able to get some photos through the dining room window which
I used to begin the identification process. Using Sibley, I narrowed it
down to a juvenile Red-naped Sapsucker, but did not even dare to consider
the juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker when I looked at its distribution.
Since I have only been birding for less than 2 years, I thought I had been
get some confirmation from the experts so I first sent my photos to Dave
Hill and Karen von Saltza. From there they went to Hugh Kingery, Tony
Leukering, and Bob Andrews who all confirmed that my little visitor was
indeed a juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Bob Andrews suggested that I
keep an eye out for this bird since they often spend several weeks or
sometimes months in the same area. He said I might be able to watch the
plumage change. Great suggestion because I could see some dramatic
differences today. Since the bird was backlit by the sun when I took
today's photos, I could see red on the forehead and in the chin area.
Cornell has put this sighting into their Rare Bird site, if you would like
to take a look:
http://watch.birds.cornell.edu/PFW/ExploreData?cmd=rareBirds&speciesGroup=ID322557&period=PFW_2011
I have posted today's pictures and the first sighting pictures at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/broadwing/5352793956/in/photostream/
No fossil fuels were used in the sighting of this life bird for me! :)
Enjoy,
Cynthia Madsen
Centennial, Co.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Colorado Birds" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Colorado Birds" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
