Sighting Record for Utah

Common name:	Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Scientific name:	Sphyrapicus varius
Date:	January 31, 2025
Time:	12:15
Length of time observed:	90 minutes
Number:	1
Age:	Immature
Sex:	Female
Location:	Millcreek
County:	Salt Lake
Latilong:	40.70529, -111.82218
Elevation:	4625
Distance to bird:	35 feet
Optical equipment:	Equipment: 8 x 42 binos; 85 mm scope w/20-60 zoom eyepiece
Weather:	Dry; hazy sun; temps 30s-40s
Light Conditions:	Light overcast but bright
Description: Size of bird:	Smaller than a robin
(Description:) Basic Shape:	Wide across shoulders tapering to tail
(Description:) Overall Pattern:	Black and dingy white
(Description:) Bill Type:	Chisel
(Description:) Field Marks and Identifying Characteristics:	Medium-sized woodpecker with a typical chunky shape. Generally black and dingy white with extensive pale juvenile plumage. Black chisel-type bill, white strap on face over bill and trailing across cheeks toward neck. Red crown heavily spotted with whitish. Indistinct black stripe encompassing eye and proceeding to nape. Whitish post-ocular stripe running down the back of neck, and lacking red at the nape. Wide pale horizontal barring spanning nearly the width of the back, tinged dingy and not as white as the primary spotting. White blaze down the black shoulders, which didn't show in my photos, but showed in the photos of other birders. Throat white with black malar stripes, but as yet lacking a black breast patch to complete the frame. Breast plain, dingy, pale yellow. Blurry bars down the sides. Bright white spots on folded black primaries. Black and white tail coming to dual points propped against the trunk. (see photos)
Song or call & method of delivery:	None heard.
Behavior:	Clinging vertically to a deciduous tree; locust, I think, and tending sap wells. Occasionally chasing away small songbirds raiding the sap wells.
Habitat:	Landscaped suburban yard.
Similar species and how were they eliminated:	From Red-naped Sapsucker: Significant juvenile plumage not shown by Red-naped immatures later than mid-fall. From Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers: Much more extensive whitish, messy and dingy rather than the crisp black-and-white of both of these species; also, red crown feathers tipped in white are not Hairy and Downy crown patterns. From sapsucker hybrids: No sign of intermediate characteristics with other sapsuckers, especially red other than on the crown.
Previous experience with this & similar species:	My first in Utah; this is the sapsucker of my childhood and according to eBird, the last time I saw one previous to this was in 2018 in Massachusetts. Red-naped, Downy and Hairy annually.
References consulted:	None
Description from:	From photo(s) taken at the time of the sighting
Observer:	Kristin Purdy
Observer's address:	Ogden, Utah
Observer's e-mail address:	**
Other observers who independently identified this bird:	Oliver Jones and many others, January 28-February 10, 2025
Date prepared:	March 8, 2025
Additional material:	Photos
Additional comments:	This has been purposefully a winter of sapsucker searching/finding/study for me, and so when Oliver posted photos of a Red-naped Sapsucker in his yard, I reviewed his checklist and then contacted him to alert him his bird was an excellent candidate for a Yellow-bellied. He sent me a couple more photos which confirmed the ID, and then changed his report to Yellow-bellied after doing his own analysis. Oliver and his family very graciously welcomed the Utah birding community into their back yard and many birders subsequently logged the bird. He expressed an interest in filing a sight record, but hasn't so far, so I thought I would.