Yikes, it has been a while since we last spoke. Things have been really busy around Intrigued as of late. This week we launched the new Haunt Channel to start using the video format to showcase our Halloween themed creations. I thought blogging took a bit of work, but video is a whole new ball of worms that will take some getting used to. Also had a chance to get out and bird to pump up my county, state and US tallies. Things are looking up on all those fronts and the current total of 249 species for the Average Year is making me really happy – Ron is probably cursing it ha! (link here not updated). The biggest consumer of time has been in recovery mode. Since being released by the surgeon, I’ve been putting in the hard work to get back in the game. Beyond the gym work, been walking several miles a day and today was the first day I was able to intersperse some short jogs. The usual July ultra is off the table now due to the lack of runway, so the new target is the October ultra. One must have goals no matter how ambitious. In honor of the color my face must have been today, say hello to today’s featured feathered friend.
Hit the jump to learn more about this red hued member of the Woodpecker family.
Those that read my last post on the Red-Naped Sapsucker..sorry Sapsipper may have already guessed this post was coming. If you recall, there was some initial confusion regarding the ID of what turned out to be the Red-Naped. Little did I know at the time that I would encounter the Red-Breasted Sapsucker species for the first time a mere 9 days later.
As noted in the previous post, the Red-Naped Sapsuckers are westernish birds with regards to their US regions. They stop short of the far west coast which is where the Red-Breasted prefer to hang out. This species spends all year on the west coast of US and Canada with some slight migration to the east for breeding and some wintering. I suspect my California readers will be very familiar with this wood driller. They can overlap with the Red-Naped during the winter season in western Nevada and southern California.
When I noticed a Red-Naped Sapsucker was again being reported at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park in Blue Diamond NV back in January 2024, it didn’t surprise me much. Just outside Las Vegas was in its expected range and I had spotted one in Vegas the prior year. What I was not expecting was to see an entry for the Red-Breasted variety right below it. The entry fee is a bit steep at the Ranch ($15), but there was a lifer potential there and they usually have other regulars like the Spotted Towhee and Juniper Titmouse that bring down the IpS (Investment per Species) factor. For those unfamiliar with that index, it is our primary investment evaluation criteria here at Intrigued which is brought down lower when you include the bonus reduction adjustments for +1s (1/2x for lifers, 1/4x for annual +1s). The investment was a go, but the stress of having to get it in the tin was definitely elevated.
I have covered Spring Mountain Ranch State Park several times before – the lifer Acorn Woodpecker post comes to mind (link here). So far I have had good luck with finding members of the Woodpecker family there (beyond being told the wrong place by a volunteer while on the Acorn Woodpecker hunt). This is in part to the fact their picnic area near the parking lot is lined with tall mature trees which are a nice draw for those that like to bang their head against wood.
No surprise by now, but Linda and I did find it and managed to get a few decent shots of it. It was an overcast and windy day which is not the best shooting conditions. There were very angry skies rolling over the nearby mountains and bringing with it some serious winds. Like the Red Rock Canyon area in Vegas, a deluge of rain can result in serious danger of flash flooding. Eventually Linda decided she was done with the cold wind… and probably embarrassed by my cussing as I tried to keep the barrel of The Beast on target. She headed back to the comfort of the car while I continued trying to get this lifer in the tin.
In the midst of all this a Red-Naped came into the area and was none too pleased with this rarity showing up in its home woods. I’d finally get a clear shot of the Red-Breasted and before I could get any snaps off the Red-Naped would fly in and startle it away. None of those confrontations came out as I was pushing the ISO and shutter down in hopes the Red-Breasted would sit still enough to pull it out of the bad light. Toss in the conflict motion and you basically get a Wassily Kandinsky inspired finger painting.
Continued to chase around after the Red-Breasted specimen, dance around like a fire ant found my privates to get a clear shot, fight the wind to keep the damn thing in the viewfinder before selecting the perfect cuss word to sum up the situation as it left for a better tree. It just occurred to me that this video adventure for the Intrigued Haunt Channel could backfire immensely. If Linda figures out the comedy gold she is sitting on if she were to video tape my bird excursions and put those out for people to see…not good folks!!!
Through all this I was happy I could help out a fellow birder. Noticed while I was galloping about the place there was an older lady with a camera scanning the trees as well. She had apparently latched on to the Red-Naped that was causing havoc with my specimen. The R-N had given up the chase and was apparently hanging out at the set of trees she was shooting at. She ended up walking by and asked if I was looking for the Red-Breasted and relayed that she had just found it. Hmmm, that seemed odd knowing it had just left the tree right next to me – perhaps there were two of them! Curious, I asked her about the Red-Naped that was in the area. You could tell that caused some confusion. We sorted it out, she thought the Red-Naped was the Red-Breasted – deja vu all over again with the experience at Sweetwater. Always eager to help a fellow birder out, helped her get eyes on the real deal before heading back to see if Linda could feel her fingers and toes yet.
Shall we get to some interesting tidbits before we let you go…certainly. Cornell indicates that where the Red-Naped and Red-Breasted have been known to intermingle they produce hybrids that are hard to distinguish – that is all I need, birding is hard enough with natural distinctions, muddy that all up and I’m out. Giving more fodder to my name change argument, the Red-Breasted are really sap sippers with their purpose evolved (or designed, your call) brush tipped tongues. They do prefer Aspen and Alder when creating their sap harvesting rows of holes – my tree knowledge is slightly above nonexistent beyond classifying into pines, oaks, sycamores and birch based purely on those were the trees in our woods growing up. Don’t blame me, I had a parochial education and don’t get me started on my absolute abysmal understanding of geography heheheh.
Lastly, Cornell indicates the Red-Breasted, the Red-Naped and our local variety the Yellow-Bellied were considered the same species until 1983. For the record, we here at Intrigued are pro species splits and opposed to all species combining. Purely science people and nothing to do with bird counts..honestly ha.
Will leave it there folks. This officially leaves me with one Sapsucker still to find, the Williamson’s. If there is anyone out there in say the Colorado region, can you put one in a box (with holes) and send that out to us, we would be much obliged.
Wildlife Intrigued 
Beautiful bird at one of my favorite state parks. Now I feel I should head up there with some binoculars 🙂
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Nice Brian. Only a few more articles and I think the scales will be tipped towards renaming “suckers” to “sippers”. As mentioned in your prior articles, the name is much more descriptive than certain “ring-necked” varieties and the bird doesn’t need to be staked out on a board to be able to identify it (think red-bellied).
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It’s a movement, tell your friends and family. I am constantly complaining to Ron that if I need to hold the bird in my hand to be able to discern the feature it was named after, then it’s a stupid name – this also goes for having to pry open its beak and look at its tongue hehehe. Luckily you can visually watch it taking in sap so I can’t complain too much about that. Note, I still cringe a bit when I think of all the dead birds in drawers up at the Field Museum in Chicago or the fact that the early naturalists would blast specimens out of the air to bring it back to the office to draw. We’ve come a long way fortunately.
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Hence the opening soliloquy in The Big Year.
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Forgot to say that if we just change the name of something in our reference material it has to be true. Then get the giant search engines to read our material instead . . .
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Sounds like a plan! Now Linda says that may be ripe for abuse, but clearly doesn’t understand our upstanding status in the birding world ha.
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If we reverse the Six Degrees of Separation to be Six Degrees of Integration, our Intrigued readers can reach millions of people to make the change.
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Your handle says it all! Las Vegas and surrounding areas is one of our favorite destination places and always enjoy birding the local hotspots (Henderson Bird Viewing, Clark County Wetlands, Red Rocks, Floyd Lamb..as you are aware, the list goes on). A couple of years ago we found this Ranch (I was chasing the Acorn Woodpecker that showed up there). What a lovely place although I wish they would lower the price a bit. The picnic area is full of birds and the walks into the valley and up into the foothills are so fun. Oh, and I wish they would give us better access to the pond – I understand their endangered fish concerns etc, but just an observation deck would allow us to shoot over the fence to all the ducks enjoying the water (and probably munching on all the endangered fish hehehe). Thanks for dropping in and joining the conversation. There will be plenty more coming soon from Spring Mountain and the other Vegas area hotspots as we are heading in that direction in a couple of weeks. Take care.
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How many sips does a sapsucker suck when a sapsucker’s sipping sap? Do the Red-Breasted ones get sunburned flashing rockers at outdoor festivals? Seriously, you’ve got some fantastic photos.
Nice to read you are working out again and working your way back into shape. Which proves what I wrote in this song, https://soundcloud.com/user-334086053/never-too-old, “you’re never too old to stay in the fight! Stand, keep moving to stay in the game!”
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Hahaha, well according to the old Tootsie Pop commercial, the answer is always Tha’ree sips to get to the center of the sap. You know the theory about flashing groupies..find the ones without tan lines, those are the fun ones to be around hehehe. Based on the swelling the resulted from yesterday’s walk/jog/crawl workout, I still have a loooong way to go before I’m officially back. I’ve been hitting the gym hard ever since I got put in a boot just to keep from atrophy, but the elliptical and recumbent bike do not come close to getting the heart rate and physical strength up where it needs to be. As always, another great poignant song – those words could easily be my motto – you are reaching some high notes there Tim, have you been training with A-Ha (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914)?
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I guess I have. Have you seen Reel Big Fish’s version of Take On Me, https://youtu.be/QHpU0ZfXZ_g? A long road to recovery is not a whole lotta fun, but necessary. Stationary bikes are so boring.
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I had not seen that RBF video – pretty hit or miss with them , but love the Sell Out song – they have a bad tendency to drift into the Proclaimers doing Blink 182 songs. Noticed they dropped the high parts of the A-Ha down to a reasonable level heheh. Your video link got me in the mood to go listen to some Bouncing Souls … while on my walk of course.
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That’s the only video I like by RBF. It has the right amount of silliness. I hope the Bouncing Souls are helping you bounce along on your walk.
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You got some cracking shots considering the conditions you described, well done!
As for your other hobby, self harming, sorry I mean running, just be careful.
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Thank you B.! Admittedly, there was some major work done on these shots in the digital darkroom – thank god for burst shooting so I could get one crisp enough somewhere in the middle that I was willing to show. I can usually get by pushing the settings for the conditions – at least with the less hyper birds, but with all the movement from the wood banging and the intrusion by the other Sapsipper there were a lot of frames that hit the floor so to speak. As far as the other, Popeye says it best, I yam what I yam. I like to know my limits and then push them – from time to time that gets the better of me ha. I am definitely trying to be careful and already canceled my plans for the July race. Brad and Jan are also keeping a watchful eye on me to keep me in check. Take care over there as well!
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What’s a little wind. Pushups when traveling to keep those “guns” up to snuff. 🤓🥸😉
It’s all an adventure with hopefully some nice results, which you seem to have accomplished.
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Hahaha, trust me, I’m working out every night even while traveling – Father time is constantly trying to get the better of me – according to my elbow and my ankle I’d say he is winning at the moment! Definitely not disappointed on the results here – anytime I get something in the tin I am willing to share here is a bonus in my book. There are some shots coming up in a future post that make these wind shots look spectacular…just to set the expectation low(er). Take care Jerry and appreciate you dropping in.
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Stellar shots, expecially when battling wind. I encountered some wicked wind along the coast of Georgia last week – not even my tripod could beat that!
I keep wondering what survival advantage that bright red coloring might confer. When trying to confuse predators, I can understand painting your tail red, but not your head!
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Thank you Sam, undoubtedly, you know how this can be on those big barrels. Sounds like you have been traveling – will have to get over to your blog and see what you’ve been up to (trying to get ready for AZ and that is taking up a bunch of my time). You raise an interesting question on the impact of red from a predator perspective. Based solely on Bulls you would think there would be an aggressive nature against it. It is also interesting that almost all of the WP family has some red in them (particularly the males). My other hobby would chalk this up to putting on a facade of a bloodied up deranged psycho killer that others would avoid at all cost…maybe I shouldn’t let my hobbies overlap hehehe. As always, thanks for dropping in and safe travels.
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Your arms must have got a good workout, Brian, holding your camera still enough despite the wind, as your images are wonderfully crisp.
We do get occasional visits from Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers here along the Front Range of Colorado, but I don’t know of any Red-breasted varieties showing up.
As far as the Williamson’s Sapsipper is concerned, you will need to put yourself in a box and ship yourself here, rather than the other way round. 😊
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I am glad when all that time in the gym pays off for something other than my ultra runs ha! We have the YB variety here and they tend to dominate the eastern half of the US, but the RH variety enjoy toasty waves and prefer to hang out along the west coast so not likely to wander out to you – now the Red-Naped would be a likely visitor out there. I’ll have to work with Linda to make plans to get out there – I can stuff myself into the fully stocked RV box and roll ourselves out there ha. Thanks for dropping in Tanja, appreciate it!
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Yes, we definitely have Red-naped Sapsuckers, besides Williamson’s. They should be back any time now.
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