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Bird Photos: Rarities: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at Hidden Villa

This young male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was found by Garth Harwood at Hidden Villa, an outdoor education facility and organic farm, Los Altos, CA, on 2/2/05. This is the eastern species of sapsucker. Its breeding range extends westward into British Columbia and the Yukon Territory in Canada, and they are more uncommon than rare in the Greater Bay Area. There was another sighting of this species further north at the Filoli Gardens in San Mateo Co., but that bird had more juvenal plumage. It's notable that all species of North American sapsuckers have been reported this winter, 2004-2005, in the Greater Bay Area.

   
 

I photographed this young male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at Hidden Villa on 3/11/05 at around 2:30p. Between these three images you can see the red forecrown and chin, indications of a male of the species. The dusky back feathers indicate a young bird in it's first winter. The black margin to the red chin, which is not discernable in these images, was broad for its entire length, not thinning as on a Red-naped Sapsucker. I did see the yellow belly, but was not able to capture it in a photo.

The images are a bit too dark because of an error in the camera setting that I didn't discover until the bird was gone. Such is bird photography.
   
 

   

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