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Woodpeckers tend to be sexually dimorphic, but differences between the sexes are generally small; exceptions to this are Williamson's sapsucker and the orange-backed woodpecker, which differ markedly. The plumage is moulted fully once a year apart from the wrynecks, which have an additional partial moult before breeding. [8]
Genus Sphyrapicus – S.F. Baird, 1858 – four species Common name Scientific name and subspecies Range Size and ecology IUCN status and estimated population Red-naped sapsucker Male Female Sphyrapicus nuchalis Baird, 1858: the Rocky Mountains and Great Basin areas of North America: Size: Habitat: Diet: LC Red-breasted sapsucker Sphyrapicus ruber
This bird lays a clutch of four to seven eggs, with clutches being larger for birds in the northern part of the range. [11] The eggs themselves are white and spotless, measuring around 24 by 17 millimetres (0.94 by 0.67 in). [17] During egg laying, the female is dominant, sometimes driving the male away from the nest. [22]
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 female lays between 2 and 7 eggs, which are plain white. The eggs are incubated by both sexes, but the nesting period and other details are unknown. Like most other woodpeckers the ladder-backed woodpecker bores into tree-trunks with its chisel-like bill to hunt for insects and their larva, but it also feeds on fruit produced by cacti.
The red-naped sapsucker is a medium-sized woodpecker, [11] measuring 19–21 cm (7.5–8.3 in) long and weighing 32–66 g (1.1–2.3 oz). [12] Adults have a black head with a red forehead, white stripes, and a red spot on the nape; they have a white lower belly and rump.
Like other woodpeckers, insects form a large part of the diet, being caught on the wing in some species, but fruit is also eaten in large quantities and some species consume sap. They all nest in holes that they excavate in trees, and the red-crowned woodpecker and the Hoffmann's woodpecker are unusual in that they sometimes enter their holes ...
A sapsucker's tongue is adapted with stiff hairs for collecting sap. Red-breasted sapsuckers visit the same tree multiple times, drilling holes in neat horizontal rows. A bird will leave and come back later, when the sap has started flowing from the holes. Repeated visits over an extended period of time can actually kill the tree. [9]