Medium-sized woodpecker with a red head and breast and a white spot in front of the eye. A large vertical white patch is usually visible on the folded wing. Lacks black on the breast. Sexes alike.
Juveniles are washed in brown with a darker back and a vertical white wing patch.
Breeds in evergreen and deciduous forests.
Drills a series of parallel rows to access tree sap. Note red head and breast and vertical white wing patch.
Nests in holes in trees. Males and females look alike.
Drills series of parallel rows to access sap, which it laps up with it tongue.
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A medium-sized woodpecker with a long body, large, rounded head, and a chisel-like bill.
A medium-sized woodpecker. Larger than a Downy Woodpecker, smaller than a Northern Flicker.
robin-sizedThe Red-breasted Sapsucker has two described subspecies, ruber and daggetti. Birds of the subspecies ruber in the northern part of the range (from southeastern Alaska to southern Oregon) have deeper and more extensive red on the head and breast. Birds of the subspecies daggetti that live in the mountains of southwest Oregon to southern California have a more prominent white malar stripe and tend to be smaller than ruber.
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