Williamson's sapsucker (''Sphyrapicus thyroideus'') is a medium-sized

woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar region ...

belonging to the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

Sphyrapicus The sapsuckers are species of North American woodpeckers in the genus ''Sphyrapicus''. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Sphyrapicus'' was introduced in 1858 by the American naturalist Spencer Baird with the yellow-bellied sapsucker (''Sphy ...

'' (

sapsucker The sapsuckers are species of North American woodpeckers in the genus ''Sphyrapicus''. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Sphyrapicus'' was introduced in 1858 by the American naturalist Spencer Baird with the yellow-bellied sapsucker (''Sphy ...

s).

Habitat and range

Breeding habitat is open forested areas with conifers, mainly

ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is t ...

douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three ...

, and

grand fir ''Abies grandis'' (grand fir, giant fir, lowland white fir, great silver fir, western white fir, Vancouver fir, or Oregon fir) is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California of North America, occurring at altitudes of sea leve ...

Subalpine fir ''Abies lasiocarpa'', the subalpine fir or Rocky Mountain fir, is a western North American fir tree. Description ''Abies lasiocarpa'' is a medium-sized evergreen conifer with a very narrow conic crown, growing to tall, exceptionally , with a t ...

and

western larch The western larch (''Larix occidentalis'') is a species of larch native to the mountains of western North America (Pacific Northwest, Inland Northwest); in Canada in southeastern British Columbia and southwestern Alberta, and in the United Stat ...

may also be important components of good habitat for these birds. Partially migratory, they breed in western North America from northern

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

as far north as

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

. They are permanent residents in some parts of their range; migrating birds form small flocks and may travel as far south as central Mexico.

Description

Adult males are iridescent black on their head, back, sides and tail. They have a white stripe behind the eye and a lower white stripe across each side of the head, a red chin and a bright yellow belly. They have black wings with large white patches. The female is completely different in appearance: mainly black, with a pale yellow breast, a brownish head with black streaking and fine barring on the back, breast and sides. Originally, the female was considered to be a different species and named the black-breasted woodpecker by Cassin. Measurements: * Length: 8.3-9.8 in (21-25 cm) * Weight: 1.6-1.9 oz (44-55 g) * Wingspan: 17 in (43 cm) They excavate a new nesting cavity each year, sometimes reusing the same tree. These birds feed on sap, mainly from conifers, but insects are their main food source during the nesting season and they also eat berries outside of the breeding period. These birds drum to establish territories. This species may be declining in some parts of its range due to habitat loss. This woodpecker is associated with mature larch forests in south-central British Columbia; less than 500 individuals breed in Canada. The habitat for this species is rapidly disappearing due to forest harvesting. The species was designated endangered in 2005. The species took its common name from Lieutenant

Robert Stockton Williamson Robert Stockton Williamson (January 21, 1825 – November 10, 1882) was an American soldier and engineer, noted for conducting surveys for the transcontinental railroad in California and Oregon. Inducted into the Army Corps of Engineers in 186 ...

, who was the leader of a surveying expedition which collected the first male. They were trying to identify the best route west for a railway to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

Subspecies

* ''Sphyrapicus thyroideus nataliae'' ( Malherbe, 1854) * ''Sphyrapicus thyroideus thyroideus'' ( Cassin, 1852) In the nineteenth century, the males and females of this sapsucker were believed to be separate species. The female was first described 1852 as ''Picus thyroideus'', and the male was described in 1857 (Newberry) as ''Picus williamsonii''. Baird appropriated the name ''Sphyrapicus'' as the genus for both in 1858. In 1873 Henry Henshaw clarified this matter and recognized them as the same species. This is also summarized in Robert Ridgway's 'The Birds of North and Middle America, Part 6' (1914).

References

External links

Cornell Lab of Ornithology profile

ITIS information

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1272899

Williamson's sapsucker Williamson's sapsucker (''Sphyrapicus thyroideus'') is a medium-sized woodpecker belonging to the genus '' Sphyrapicus'' ( sapsuckers). Habitat and range Breeding habitat is open forested areas with conifers, mainly ponderosa pine, douglas-f ...

Native birds of the Western United States Fauna of the California chaparral and woodlands