Williamson's Sapsuckers at Monte Cristo

["Kristin Purdy" <kristinpurdy at comcast dot net>]

I saw three very busy WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKERS at two separate nest 
cavities in the Monte Cristo area in Rich County today.  I marked both 
trees and the route to them, so reply for specific directions if you're 
interested in seeking out these birds.   

The first pair is nesting in a tall dead aspen approximately .2 miles 
north of Monte Cristo Campground.  The spot is off the road and adjacent 
to a gravel pit.  A fairly large black-and-white woodpecker flew across 
my path and I thought surely I was pursuing a Hairy Woodpecker into a 
mixed stand of aspen and fir.  But no!  To my delight, the bird turned 
out to be a male Williamson's Sapsucker.  It was just my good fortune to 
turn, look up, and the nest cavity practically jumped into my eyeball.  
What a surprise it was to be looking directly at the hole with a 
sapsucker head sticking out.  The nest hole is approximately 45-50 feet 
above the ground.  The bonus bird at this spot is the Mountain Chickadee 
that's using a cavity about 10 feet below the sapsucker's home. I 
watched chickadee bug delivery and removal of a fecal sac from the 
downstairs apartment. 

The sapsucker activity included both male and female delivering beakfuls 
of red ants, the female preening repeatedly in a small snag and 
exploring excavations on a live aspen, and the male continuing to 
excavate the nest hole.  I believe the nestlings are very young because 
both parents always went completely inside the hole to feed them.  I 
never heard any sound from the young at all.  In addition, the fact that 
the male continues to excavate may indicate the young aren't that big.  
The species profile in Kaufmann's Lives of North American Birds says the 
young leave the nest cavity after 3-4 weeks.  That tidbit makes me think 
these birds may be present at least through next weekend.  

After watching for a long time I decided I had to do the right 
thing...hike the mile or so back to my truck for a chair, my scope, and 
the pink flagging tape.  As I walked back through Monte Cristo 
Campground I was moving!  booking!  huffing!  puffing!  And then deja 
vu, a woodpecker flew across my path and stopped me in my tracks.  This 
bird, however, didn't impress me with a dramatic black-and-white 
pattern.  It looked somewhat dingy.  I followed the woodpecker off the 
road and had to wait until the second speed-of-light food delivery to a 
cavity about 35 feet up in a dead aspen to see that the woodpecker was a 
female Williamson's Sapsucker.  This tree has been used and used and 
used before as evidenced by many excavations. 

This second clutch appears to be much older and I wouldn't be surprised 
if the young were out of the nest within couple days.  The female never 
entered the cavity to feed them; she just clung to the trunk and leaned 
in.  The young were very noisy and I believe once the female tried to 
entice them to leave the nest hole with a food delivery.  I never saw 
either the young or the adult male while the female delivered food at 
least six times.  

I returned to the first site with my scope and was able to get an 
extreme close-up of the male and then the female's head in the hole.  
The male tended to rest in the entrance for long periods.  The red flame 
down his chin was startling.  I watched him dump out sawdust and then 
felt badly for him as I could see sawdust inside his open beak.  Sawdust 
also covered the outside of his beak and all over that jet black 
beautiful forehead.  He probably didn't care.  

The female rarely paused in the nest hole for long.  But between the 
short pauses and her long preening session I saw plenty.  I'm certain as 
she primped she was thinking:  "Excavating?  Not my job, not my job!"  
The female was also the only bird that vocalized while I was present.  
She issued a burry "Churr!" sound when approaching the tree or hopping 
on the trunk.    

Both birds had a "usual" perch when they left the nest.  The male's 
position on his tree allowed me to view only his back, and with black 
wings tightly folded over that white rump, he appeared almost completely 
black.  I could only see the bright white scapular stripe or the white 
stripes on the side of his head when he turned slightly.

Other great species in the Monte Cristo area today included Red-tailed 
Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Northern Flicker, Warbling Vireo, Common Raven, 
Red-breasted Nuthatch, House Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet showing the 
tomato red stripe down its head--first time I've seen that in a coon's 
age, Mountain Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, Townsend's Solitaire, American 
Robin, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Western Tanager, Chipping Sparrow, 
White-crowned Sparrow, Cassin's Finch, and Pine Siskin.  

Monte Cristo Campground is located at mile 47.7 on SR-39.  

Kris  



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