Sphyrapicus thyroideus

The Williamson's sapsucker is an interesting bird but can be hard to find in Utah's mountain forests. The medium-size woodpecker drills wells into trees to get the sap, which has a high sugar carbohydrate content and is a valuable energy source. Sap that seeps into these wells is licked up by the sapsucker. Other birds, unable to drill their own sap wells, learn to follow sapsuckers to find the food. Hummingbirds will catch insects attracted to the sweet sap.

The plumage between the two sexes is so different they were once considered separate species. The male is primarily black and white.

He has two white stripes on the black head: one starting behind the eye and the other at the base of his chisellike bill. There is a red throat patch, and the belly is yellow. A large white shoulder patch is on the black wing.

The female has a brown head. Her upper body feathers are barred brown and white. She has a black throat patch and a yellow belly.

You can listen for the Williamson's drumming in forested mountain areas, a slow, regular tapping.

The sapsucker excavates a new nest each year. The male builds the nest, often excavating a new one in a tree used previously. House wrens and other cavity-nesting birds that are unable to drill their own nest cavity benefit from old sapsucker cavities.

Both parents will incubate three to seven eggs, feed and care for altricial young (born naked, eyes closed and helpless). The young fledge within 35 days. Bill Fenimore is owner of the Layton Wild Bird Center (www.wildbird. com/layton) and author of Backyard Birds of Utah.