Yellow-bellied Sapsucker molt progression

During the winter of 2011-2012, I had the opportunity to study a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that frequented the small apple/pecan orchard in my yard.  Unfortunately, not being the most skilled photographer, I'm limited in my ability to present the bird from the same angles throughout the season!  Still, I think I did well enough to show some sort of molt progression.

We'll start with the original plumage and work our way up to current.

Late October, 2011:

Hatch Year (HY) Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers undergo a much more protracted molt than do HY Red-naped Sapsuckers.  Given a choice between Yellow-bellied and Red-naped after September, any individual with juvenile head plumage is most likely a Yellow-bellied (Pyle 1997).

This bird clearly does not look like an adult bird.  The overall face pattern is only vaguely defined.  Crown still has much gold spotting; upper chest shows only a hint of the black pattern that will develop as the bird molts.  Throat frame is incomplete, so much so that it could be confused with a Red-naped Sapsucker, except that no Red-naped should show this much retained juvenile plumage by October.  To further validate this, our next photo is a dorsal view.

This photo shows the classic immature Yellow-bellied back pattern: a messy array of buttery-colored markings.  Importantly, there is no red in the nape.  After October 1, it is very unlikely that any Red-naped would lack visible red in the nape (Birding magazine, Nov/Dec 2006).

Late November, 2011:

In just one short month, the bird has already developed quite a bit!

In this photo, one can see that the face pattern has become much more defined.  The throat frame is much blacker and more complete, neatly encircling the red throat feathers (which have also become vibrant and filled in more).  Even with the shadows that are falling across much of the body, the bird still shows a bit more black feathering in the upper chest and darker black in the post-ocular area leading back to the stripe that borders the nape.  There is still much retained gold spotting in the forecrown, but the rear crown has become blacker with the rest of the plumage.  Not much to see in the nape, but still no red!  A good sign...

Early March, 2012:

In this photo, the bird looks essentially like an adult.  It is more obvious that this bird is a male, with now-complete red throat and full black throat frame.  The forehead now has quite a bit of red as well, which can be seen better in the next photo.  Essentially, almost all of the head plumage has been replaced.

More of a ventral angle.  Note the extensive red in the forehead extending back through the crown, but even still there is some retained gold spotting/scalloping.  No red from the throat crosses the black throat frame, which is a mark one would expect on a Red-naped.

Just to confirm, still no red in the nape!  Much of the back feathering is a crisper black than before.  The buttery spots appear to be in neater rows in this image, which is more in line with Red-naped back pattern (except the coloring would be whiter, not buttery).  Back pattern has proven to be one of the less reliable field marks on these two Sapsuckers.  Head pattern, especially lack of red in the nape after October 1, seems to be the most reliable.  And I won't muddy these waters with talk of hybrids...that's outside the scope of this blog post!

Hope that helps anyone trying to distinguish young Yellow-bellied from Red-naped Sapsuckers next winter!

Cheers,
John Yerger
Portal, AZ
john@adventurebirding.com
----------
Adventure Birding Company
Specializing in flexible, personalized guiding in SE Arizona
www.adventurebirding.com
520-495-0229


References:

Mlodinow, Steven G., Jessie H. Barry, and Cameron D. Cox. 2006. Variation in Red-naped and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. Birding 38:6 42-51.

Pyle, Peter.  1997. Identification Guide to North American Birds. Part I.  Slate Creek Press, Bolinas, CA.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker update

22 November 2011

After an absence of about two weeks, our younger-plumaged YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER finally returned to the apple tree outside our dining room window at 9:00am this morning!  We thought all of the Yellow-bellieds had departed, leaving only two RED-NAPED SAPSUCKERS behind; happily, we were wrong.  It was neat to see this bird again to track how it is developing.  Below I've posted a photo from about a month ago, followed by a photo of the bird from today.  Note: the lighting conditions were *very* different, so try not to focus to much on the actual hue of the colors, but rather the quality of the colors with respect to the rest of the bird.

Today, the facial pattern appeared much crisper than last month's photo.  Both white stripes in the face are brighter and slightly broader, with the space between showing darker and crisper black.  Most importantly, the black throat frame is more continuous, fully enclosing the red color of the throat.  Notably, there is still no red in the nape (further confirming Yellow-bellied).  The back feathers, while difficult to see in this shot, still retain some of that butter-cream color that seems to be so distinctive of immature Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers.

Another rare visitor to southeastern Arizona put in an appearance today: a lovely WHITE-THROATED SPARROW!  Most individuals of this species that stray into Arizona during the winter are of the "tan-striped" variety, but this individual seems to have much brighter white, setting off the bold yellow patches in the lores.

Finally, a resident CRISSAL THRASHER topped off the show.  Bad pictures, perhaps, but great birds!

Cheers,
John Yerger
Portal, AZ
john@adventurebirding.com
----------
Adventure Birding Company
Specializing in flexible, personalized guiding in SE Arizona
www.adventurebirding.com
520-495-0229

Arizona: Red-naped vs. Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers...a learning process

27 October 2011

On 22 October 2011, Chris McCreedy and Michael Lester spent a lot of time studying an odd sapsucker in the Quailway Cottage orchard (Portal, AZ).  I'm sorry to say that I noted this immature-plumaged sapsucker as early as 29 September, but dismissed it after only a glance because it looked very dark overall...and I had a lot other things to do that day!  A renewed itch to put the right name to the right organism has now forced me to take a closer look...  Turns out, these two species are more variable than many of us ever thought!  The main resource for this ID issue is a pioneering article published in the November/December 2006 issue of Birding magazine, titled "Variation in Red-naped and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers." 

On almost any given day in the fall or winter in Arizona, you could probably glimpse a sapsucker and just say "Red-naped" - and the odds are, you would be right.  On October 26, however, I walked into that orchard on the Quailway Cottage grounds and encountered no fewer than 5 individual sapsuckers.  At least two were fully adult male Red-naped Sapsuckers (RNSA); a third had substantial red in the nape but flew too soon.  The remaining two required far more study.

Here's the bird that Chris reported on 22 October (photos are mine, taken today - click the image to enlarge):

While the Birding article does not tout any single field mark as diagnostic, it does say this: "...Red-naped Sapsuckers lacking red on the nape between October 1 and May 1 would be exceptionally unusual, if such occur at all."  So, any Sphyrapicus species without red in the nape seems virtually guaranteed to be a Yellow-bellied (YBSA), regardless of age or sex.  Note that there is no red in the nape of this bird.  Nor is there any red in the nape of the next bird I photographed:

(I'll refer to the first bird as YBSA-1 and the latter as YBSA-2.)  YBSA-1 is clearly a bird in immature plumage.  Multiple resources claim that hatch year (HY) YBSA begin their molt on the summer grounds, "usually" suspend it during migration, and finish that molt on the wintering grounds.  HY RNSA is supposed to molt primarily on the summer grounds, with juvenal head and body feathers "usually" fully replaced by October/November.  So, YBSA-1 seems more-or-less clearcut (despite my inadequate first observation): no red in the nape + late October + immature plumage = call it a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  Aside from the nape, there are a few more supporting features visible on this bird: buttery color to the upper back feathers, and some butter-colored spangling in the crown.  I always thought that immature YBSA were supposed to be buffy and lighter brown throughout, and also were supposed to have a lighter crown overall.  Some do - but not all, apparently!  The back pattern also appears somewhat "messy" like a traditional YBSA, but this feature is allegedly variable enough that it's only a supporting mark, at best.

YBSA-2 is a bit more complex.  At first glance, I might have thought that this was an adult bird and immediately called out RNSA, but closer examination shows the lack of fully adult throat/breast feathers (note that the throat frame isn't complete and the breast feathers haven't turned to solid black yet.)  I also thought at first that perhaps it was too far along in its molt to possibly be a YBSA - but the Birding article shows us a museum specimen that is just as advanced (or more so), collected October 11, 1982 in Baltimore.  So it may not be fully adult-plumaged, but it's darn close, and apparently it's not unprecedented.  Additionally, examples of delayed molt in RNSA are extremely difficult to find.

Looking closer still, I tried to judge what little is present of the throat frame:

It's difficult to gauge, to be sure.  However, by the time this bird has all of its adult feathers in place, it looks as though it will develop a solid black frame around the throat, containing the red throat feathers.  It may turn out that some of that red will end up "invading" the black throat frame, but there's no way to tell for at least another month.  While there are a very few YBSA specimens out there with some red extending into the throat frame, RNSA is the species that is well known to have a very broken throat frame completely invaded by red from the throat.  So...we may have to entertain the notion of "hybrid," but the bird at least has some YBSA blood and may yet prove to be a pure-blooded bird.  Or, it could totally surprise all of us and start to spontaneously develop some red feathers in the nape...now that would be worth documenting!

If you haven't given it a thorough read, I highly recommend the Nov/Dec 2006 "Birding" article.  It seems that a significant number of specimens were analyzed, not only by the three authors (Mlodinow, Barry and Cox) but also by a number of other researchers whose work they cite.  It doesn't claim to be the final word on this ID challenge, but it's certainly my go-to reference for the moment.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that these birds stick around, since I live on-site as manager of the Quailway Cottage.  If they stay, I'll be sure to take more photos as the season progresses and see if I can't reach some more solid conclusions!

Happy studying,
John Yerger
Portal, AZ
john@adventurebirding.com
----------
Adventure Birding Company
Specializing in flexible, personalized guiding in SE Arizona
www.adventurebirding.com
520-495-0229

The Forest Re-opens! Birding the Chiricahua Mountains

18 July 2011

Morgan Jackson and I spent a pleasant morning in Cave Creek Canyon, five days after this portion of the Coronado National Forest officially reopened.  We explored Stewart Campground (open to day use only) where we found nothing unusual, but enjoyed watching a Painted Redstart gathering nesting food for young ones.  In the past few years, this area has played host to a Berylline Hummingbird, but we didn't find one today.

Walking up the South Fork road (open to foot traffic only), we were delighted to find a SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHER.  I haven't been able to look for this species since May 9, when the Horseshoe 2 Fire shut down these mountains to visitation.  A male ELEGANT TROGON was also very cooperative, only perhaps 150 yards from where we parked.

Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, which was oddly silent today, looking around for the next tasty morsel.

Elegant Trogon, looking dapper as ever - only about 6 inches off the ground, immediately adjacent to the road!

Driving up FR 42, all of the areas immediately adjacent to the road underwent a low- to medium-intensity ground fire, and the only completely blackened areas from high-intensity crown fires were visible on some of the highest ridge-tops.  (I'm not eager to drive through that area in person, but I've seen photos of a lot of greenery still left in prime Mexican Chickadee and Olive Warbler habitat.  All is not lost!)  We watched a ZONE-TAILED HAWK soaring over the ridge about halfway between where the road leaves North Fork and where the road crosses East Turkey Creek.  Crews were working to repair the road where it washed out at East Turkey Creek, but we still managed to locate YELLOW-EYED JUNCOS feeding fledgings.


So, lots of good stuff on a casual morning of birding in the Chiricahua Mountains!

Cheers,
John Yerger
Portal, AZ
john@adventurebirding.com
----------
Adventure Birding Company
Specializing in flexible, personalized guiding in SE Arizona
www.adventurebirding.com
520-495-0229

After the Fire: Cave Creek Canyon, Trogon Census

On June 26, 2011, I was one of the lucky few to participate in the 34th annual Chiricahua Mountain Elegant Trogon Census.  The National Forest here has been off limits to the public since the Horseshoe 2 fire started on May 8, so I was eager to get back into any part of my beloved home range!  The forest is still closed, but our small crew of surveyors received special permission to conduct this count.  I snapped a few photos to give everyone else a small window into the fire's effects in a portion of the South Fork of Cave Creek.

A bit of background on this piece of the fire: South Fork remained one of the few patches of green on the fire map until May 25, when the fire line on the ridge was breached and flames raced down into the drainage.  That initial push of the fire burned very hot.  To prevent this extra-destructive type of fire from continuing down South Fork to the main body of Cave Creek (and possibly on to Portal), firefighters lit a backburn.  They started from the main paved road in Cave Creek Canyon, literally walking low flames back to meet the oncoming larger flames.  The goal of a backburn is to reduce brush and leaf litter on the ground with controlled, low-intensity fire, so that an uncontrolled higher intensity fire doesn't have the fuel needed to rip through the same area.  If successful, the forest floor gets a much needed cleaning, which is how the natural process historically worked in a fire-evolved ecosystem like this one.

Streambed in South Fork, charred ground to the left

Exposed rock, formerly hidden by grasses and brush.  White ash marks where fallen logs burned in place, demonstrating the low intensity of this controlled back burn (logs burned very slowly, not spreading flame to other areas).  Large trees and some saplings are still alive!  Even the hottest fire burns no more than the top three centimeters of soil, so much of the undergrowth should regenerate within a few seasons - with normal rainfall - from the seed bank stored in the soil.

For the Trogon Census, I was stationed roughly between the 2nd and 5th stream crossings (for those of you intimately familiar with South Fork).  From my perspective, this stretch looked really good!  Even without any rain, in a severe drought and post-fire, seedlings were already sprouting through the charred soil.  Sitting in one spot for 3 hours, I detected 33 bird species.  It was truly encouraging to experience the old familiar South Fork diversity firsthand.  Besides spotting a male Elegant Trogon, the focal species of the survey, I also found a Painted Redstart nest, and even watched a coatimundi come in for a drink!

Elegant Trogon in motion

Painted Redstart, working hard to feed hungry babies!  Nestlings were about 8-9 days old, indicating that the nest was built no more than 2 weeks after the backburn passed through the area.  Painted Redstarts are a ground-nesting species, but this nest was perched about 5 feet high in a grassy patch on top of a boulder.  While the substrate could still be classified as "ground," it was interesting to see that the nest was built in one of the few grassy patches remaining - above the level of the flames!

 

Coatimundi, heading back from whence it came after enjoying a cool drink from the stream.

Of course not everything is as rosy a picture as this.  9 residences and 14 outbuildings were destroyed in this fire, which burned almost 223,000 acres - the majority of the Chiricahuas.  We lost the historic Barfoot Lookout and a lot of good high country forest around prime birding areas like Rustler Park.  Narca Moore-Craig was stationed in a somewhat bleaker landscape than I for the Trogon Census, in the Maple Camp area of South Fork.  To see that area through her eyes, you can read Narca's blog entry at:

http://narcamoorecraig.blogspot.com/2011/06/south-fork-with-trogons.html

Still, in one of the driest years on record, it could have been MUCH worse.  Preliminary estimates say that about 20% of Horseshoe 2 was destructive crown fire, killing all of the trees in those areas and sterilizing the soil.  But, that means that 80% of the acreage was low- to moderate-intensity, building the kind of mosaic that keeps our area a hotbed of biodiversity.  It will be interesting to watch the regeneration over the coming years, and learn from the experience.

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, I look forward to seeing the Chiricahua Mountains ultimately rebound in all their splendid glory!

Good birding,
John Yerger
Portal, AZ
john@adventurebirding.com
----------
Adventure Birding Company
Specializing in flexible, personalized guiding in SE Arizona
www.adventurebirding.com
520-495-0229