This week while the rest of the country is locked in the grip of a arctic deep freeze, I had a chance to wonder the desert and mountains of Southeastern Arizona. Ya, I know before you roll your eyes and think that I am running away from the cold, I had this trip planned well in advance of the extreme cold weather.
Some of you may know that I spend a fair amount of time in the Sonoran Desert. I can’t help myself, it is just so interesting and chock full of some amazing wildlife. Of course winter is a great time to visit for all the obvious reasons but it is also a good time to see some unusual birds and this year was no exception.
While wondering around the mountains in the oak juniper forest around 6,500 feet elevation I came across an usual bird, a Red-breasted Sapsucker. When I say unusual I mean unusual for Arizona. You see, this bird normally lives in a narrow band from the southern tip of Alaska, down through Canada and down the coast to the northern portions of California. A real Pacific Northwest bird. They normally winter along the coast in central and southern California but here this lone male was in Southeastern Arizona clinging to the side of a juniper tree.
Sapsuckers are an interesting group of birds that belong in the woodpecker family. There are four sapsuckers found in the US. You may be more familiar with the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker which is found throughout the eastern half of the country. The other three species all occur in mountainous west. All four species have rather long wings, which is good because most woodpeckers don’t migrate, unlike these sapsuckers which often have to cover thousands of miles during migration.
All of the sapsuckers are quite and rather inconspicuous birds who tend to stick to a small territory and often limit themselves to just one or two main trees. They drill a series of shallow holes in the tree bark, which releases the sap found flowing just beneath the bark. These are called taps or wells.
Using a modified tongue, which has a series of short hair-like projections along the tip, the sapsucker doesn’t suck up sap. Instead, it uses the hairy tipped tongue like a paint brush and laps up the sap. I often joke that we should rename these birds the sap lappers because sucking doesn’t accurately describe what they do. But no bird can live on sap alone. A wide variety of insects are attracted to the taps or wells and the sapsucker snaps up the bugs right and left. It’s like having your dinner come to you, instead of you going out to find it.
So here this male Red-breasted Sapsucker sits on “his” juniper tree going nowhere. Every time a small bird such as a kinglet or warbler would come along to take a taste of the sap or help themselves to a bug, the sapsucker would quickly fly in and chase them away. He would also go as far as take naps for up to 20 minutes at a time while clinging to the tree right as his taps just to keep them safe.
I thought to myself these wells or taps must be extremely important to the very survival of this bird in order to spend that much time guarding it. And I am sure it is. After all, I am sure it took a lot of time and energy to find the right tree, drills the holes and attract all the insects. All of this makes for a very valuable resource and one well worth guarding.
I only spent about 2-3 hours studding and photographing the bird. Walking away from the sapsucker I felt honored to have had a chance to get a glimpse into the life of this very interesting bird. Until next time.
Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the US to study and photograph wildlife. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com