[birding] E.E. Wilson sapsucker appears to be a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

[Joel Geier]

Hello folks,

OK, the photo is pathetic since it turns out that I have no idea how to
point a pocket digital camera with the viewfinder on the back. But among
the various nice shots of tree branches and sky, here is a clip from one
that turned out to have a sapsucker right at the bottom edge of the
photo.

http://www.oregonbirds.org/BirdPhotos

I did have better views through binoculars today and am now pretty well
convinced that the sapsucker hanging around the south side of E.E.
Wilson headquarters, originally found by Rich & Nanette Armstrong and
Tristen Gholsen during Sunday's Airlie-Albany CBC, is a YELLOW-BELLIED
SAPSUCKER. 

The impression I had of a crisper, adult head pattern must have been a
trick of the gloom in the brief view I had on the 22nd. In my views
today, the impression of lots of white on the head holds up, but the
darker parts of the head pattern are brownish rather than black, while
the lighter parts are a grungy white. 

I had a clear, extended view of the back of the bird's head today. The
nape is pale (grungy white). The darker feathers on the bird's crest
jsut above this did look as if they might be red in less direct light
(it was very bright light today, and I couldn't see colors well from
that angle), so that might give an impression of a red nape in a quick
view. 

In a side view with its throat shaded, the bird had a patch of red on
the throat, bordered by a fairly broad blackish-brown swath covering the
rest of the "shield" area, with grungy yellowish gray on the lower
breast, flanks and belly. The back is mottled brown and white, with
mottled black and white showing on the folded primaries and tail.

It would be nice to get some better photos by someone with a better
camera or who at least knows how to point one in the right direction.
But everything I saw today points to this being a Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker, including its generally juvenal appearance at this time of
year.

Happy birding,
Joel

P.S. Sorry for any confusion caused by my reference to "Yellow-breasted"
Sapsucker, which I guess would be a different sort of hybrid altogether.
Thanks Rich for straightening me out on that.

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis