ML54659251

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

One of two Red-breasted Sapsuckers seen on this date photographed here by Curtis A. Marantz on 24 March 2017 at Lake Tamarisk, Desert Center, Riverside County, California. This was the first of the two birds, seen here in trees near the Baptist church.

Observation details

Given the rarity of Red-breasted Sapsuckers in the southern deserts we were rather surprised to see two different birds on this date, one with a somewhat bolder than expected moustachial stripe in the large tamarisk tree north of the Baptist Church and a cleaner bird in threes near the most southwestern yard on the property. Apart from the extent of the moustachial stripe both bird appeared essentially identical. Neither bird called and both were difficult to see well. I managed to get a few mediocre photos of the first bird, but none of the second. Both bird were small to medium-sized woodpeckers with rounded crowns, stocky necks, plump bodies, relatively long wings and short tails. Both bird also had medium-length bills that were almost as long as the head was wide, and which tapered from bases of medium-depth to pointed tips along straight culmens. These birds both had mostly red heads, with the forehead, crown, and nape red and with no obvious band separating the crown and nape. My impression was that both birds also had black around the eye and some on the auriculars, yet neither bird had any suggestion of a supercilium. The bird near the church had a white moustachial that extended from the base of the upper mandible across the lower part of the face below the eye and extending to some degree to the corner of the throat however, the moustachial was broken by red clouding below the eye. The throat and upper breast were again red and I noted no suggestion of a black border to the throat or an obvious breast-band. The bird in the southwestern part of the property appeared similar in all respects with the exception that the moustachial stripe appeared to extend only from the base of the bill back to a pint under the eye before being cut off by red below the eye, and on this bird the moustachial did not reappear behind the eye, so the red of the throat blended into that of the auriculars behind the eye. Both bird had the sides and flanks clouded with gray and whitish mottling and at least one of them (though I cannot now recall which one) had a bright yellow belly. Returning to the upperparts, both birds also had black backs with two braces of white clouding that separated the mantle and scapulars, which were more solidly black, and both birds had not only a white blaze along the leading edge of the wing, but also finer barring on the remiges and narrow edges to the primary tips exposed in the wingtip. I further noted white edges to what appeared to be the inner rectrices and, as I recall, white barring on the other webs of the outers. One the church bird I also noted at least some suggestion of white uppertail-coverts that had some black barring. I noted that the eyes were dark and the bills essentially black, but I cannot recall noting the color of the legs or feet on either bird.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

ISO

800

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/320 sec

Dimensions

2078 pixels x 1396 pixels

Original file size

916.36 KB