NATALIE’S SAPSUCKER
Plate [29]
HABITS
Harry S. Swarth (1917) is responsible for the recognition of this race, which seems to differ from the Williamson’s sapsucker of the Pacific coast in the same way that the northern white-headed woodpecker differs from the southern race of that species; he says:
The differences are as worthy of recognition in one case as in the other. It is my suggestion here that the Rocky Mountain race of the Williamson Sapsucker be separately recognized on the basis of its lesser bill measurements as compared with those of Sphyrapicus thyroideus thyroideus of the Pacific Coast.
As regards a name for this form, there is already one that seems to be clearly available for use. A specimen from Mexico was designated by Malherbe (Journ. für Orn., 1854, p. 171) as Picus nataliae, and an example from any part of Mexico (save possibly from the mountains of northern Lower California) would assuredly be of the Rocky Mountain subspecies. Also in the measurements given by Malherbe, length of bill (“du bec, du front 20 millimeters”) places his bird unequivocally with this race.
It is reasonably certain that in the Rocky Mountain region the species does not breed south of the Mogollon Divide, though it does occur as a common winter visitant in southern Arizona and over a large part of the Mexican plateau. These winter visitants, as shown by numerous specimens at hand, are migrants from the Rocky Mountain region to the northward, and not from the Pacific Coast region. So the name nataliae, as given by Malherbe to a Mexican specimen, can safely be used for the Rocky Mountain subspecies, which may therefore stand as Sphyrapicus thyroideus nataliae (Malherbe).
Mrs. Florence M. Bailey (1928), referring to the striking difference in plumage between the male and the female in this species, remarks:
The cause of this strongly contrasted sexual coloration unique among the woodpeckers of the United States is one of the unsolved problems of ornithology that stimulates speculation and so adds zest to the study. Is it, as Mr. Swarth suggests, that the female is still in a primitive stage of development? Correlating the brown coloration of the pasture-frequenting flickers with the ant-eating habits so marked in the Rocky Mountain sapsucker, it would seem that the color of the female might have been ancestrally adapted to a more open habitat than that in which the pair are found today; or has the ant-eating habit been diverted from ants that live on the ground in the open to those that live on tree trunks? The feeding habits of the anomalous pair should be carefully studied in the field.
Dr. Edgar A. Mearns (1890b) says that in Arizona it “breeds very commonly at the highest altitudes, frequenting the spruce and fir woods. It seldom descends far into the pine belt during the breeding season, although it is found in the pines in winter, occasionally descending even to the cedars in severe weather; and after the nesting season it frequently roves down to the pine woods with its young. When shot, it usually fastened its claws into the balsam bark and remained hanging there after life was extinct.”
Milton P. Skinner says in his Yellowstone Park notes: “In this Park, the Williamson sapsucker lives below 7,000 feet and prefers mixed forests of aspen and fir, but it is not particular whether in dense forest or in the borderland between forest and open.”
Spring.—Mr. Swarth (1904) witnessed a well-marked spring migration in the Huachuca Mountains, Ariz., of which he says:
On April 6, 1902, I saw about a dozen Williamson Sapsuckers near the summit of the mountains at an altitude of about 9,000 feet. Though not at all in a compact flock they seemed to keep rather close together, and when one flew any distance away, the others soon followed. The bulk of them were females, and but one or two males were seen, one of which was, with great difficulty secured, for they were very wild. On April 9 several more were seen and a female secured at this same place; and a male was taken a mile or two from this place, at an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet. These were the last I saw in the spring, though they do occur later as I have a female that was taken in the Huachucas by H. Kimball on April 20, 1895.
Nesting.—The nesting habits of this woodpecker do not seem to differ materially from those of the species elsewhere. Bendire (1895) quotes W. G. Smith, as follows: “Williamson’s Sapsucker is a common summer resident in Estes Park, Colorado, where it nests mostly in dead pines, often within a few feet of the ground, and again as high as 70 feet up. Full sets of fresh eggs are usually found here during the first week in June. The male appears to me to do most of the incubating, and hereabouts it is most often found at altitudes between 7,000 and 8,000 feet, but I have also taken it at much higher ones, where it nests somewhat later.”
Mr. Skinner says in his notes: “On June 14, 1914, I discovered the nest of a pair of Williamson sapsuckers in the gulch beside the trail to Snow Pass at the beginning of the last ascent. The nest was in an aspen trunk about 6 inches in diameter. The opening to the nest was 1½ inches in diameter and located 5 feet above ground. On June 30, 1915, the nest was in the same tree, but 2 feet above the 1914 nest and in a fresh opening.”
Eggs.—The eggs of Natalie’s sapsucker do not differ materially from those of the other race of the species. The measurements of 51 eggs average 23.60 by 17.41 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 26.2 by 17.9, 24.2 by 19.4, 21.5 by 17.0, and 22.0 by 16.0 millimeters.
Young.—Mr. Skinner says in his notes that the young “seem to arrive irregularly between June 10 and July 1. I have seen young Williamson’s sapsuckers hunting by themselves before August 10. In the nest recorded above there were five young on June 14, 1914, and both parents were kept constantly busy bringing food, and frequently came so fast that one parent had to wait for the other to leave the nest. In feeding the young the adults disappeared completely into the nest cavity and came out head first. In 1915 there were five more young on June 30 and they were still there on July 10. When I visited them on June 30, the male was in the nest, and it required about five raps on the tree trunk to dislodge him, although he came to the opening and looked out at each rap.”
Food.—The feeding habits of Natalie’s sapsucker are apparently similar to those of the species elsewhere, but Mr. Skinner tells me he has “seen it drumming on firs for insects, picking insects from a crotch of a lodgepole pine and catching spruce-budworm moths from fir foliage.”
Behavior.—The feeding and other habits of Natalie’s sapsucker seems to be similar to those of the other subspecies, but Bendire (1895) quotes the following notes from Denis Gale, about its behavior around the nest, which are worth repeating here:
A marked peculiarity I have noted with Sphyrapicus thyroideus is that the male takes a lookout station upon some suitable tree, where, at the approach of any possible danger, he gives the alarm by striking a short dry limb with his bill, by which a peculiar vibrating sound is given out, which the female, not very distant, fully understands, and is at once on the alert. If either excavating, guarding, or covering her eggs, she will immediately look out of her burrow, and, should the intruder’s path lie in the direction of her nest, she will silently slip away and alight in a tree some distance off, but in view of both her nest and the intruder. The first or second blow of a hatchet upon the tree trunk in which the nest is excavated will mark her movement again by a short flight, so managed as not to increase the distance—in fact oftener coming nearer. When satisfied that her treasures have been discovered, she utters a peculiar, low, grating sound, not unlike the purring of a cat. The male then comes to the fore and braving the danger, is very courageous, and, should the eggs be far advanced in incubation, he will even enter the nest when you are almost within reach of it. When the latter are rifled, he is always the first to go in and discover the fact, often passing in and out several times in a surprised sort of manner.