{"id":15330,"date":"2014-07-06T04:47:21","date_gmt":"2014-07-06T10:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15330"},"modified":"2025-05-24T10:08:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T15:08:52","slug":"red-naped-sapsuckers-of-clark-county-idaho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/07\/06\/red-naped-sapsuckers-of-clark-county-idaho\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-naped Sapsuckers of Clark County, Idaho"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Red-napedRed-naped Sapsucker male\u00a0– Nikon D7100, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It was a Sapsuckery trip to Montana and Idaho last week, with photographing both Red-naped Sapsuckers and Williamson’s Sapsuckers at their nesting cavities and what I believe to have been a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that I didn’t get an image of. I guess I could call it a Sapsucker Trifecta!<\/p>\n

The male Red-naped Sapsucker above is the bird that came in to investigate the Magical Sapsucker Tree<\/a><\/span> with a Williamson’s Sapsucker pair feeding their young that I posted about earlier.<\/p>\n

\"Red-napedRed-naped Sapsucker female – Nikon D7100, f7.1, 1\/125, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I did find and point out another nesting tree last week because a House Wren flitting about caught my eye just like in late May when chattering House Wrens clued me in on the first Williamson’s Sapsuckers excavating their nests.<\/p>\n

This time I only saw the House Wren for a second but it drew my eye to an aspen with at least two nesting cavities in it. Seconds after seeing the House Wren a female Red-naped Sapsucker flew in with a bill full of sap and entered the nesting cavity and soon afterwards a male showed up as well. I could hear their chicks begging to be fed inside of the tree.<\/p>\n

It was great fun photographing these two sapsucker species and\u00a0I\u00a0wish I had been able to get at least one ID confirming\u00a0image of the Yellow-bellied too.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Red-naped Sapsucker photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a Sapsuckery trip to Montana and Idaho last week, with Red-naped and Williamson’s Sapsuckers at their nesting cavities<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,2578,2244,2141,2261],"tags":[4004,1919,740,5182,4068,4040,4070,5370,4062,3969,3976,2580,2144,5847,3094,2145,4777,2146,4193],"class_list":["post-15330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-clark-county","category-idaho","category-red-naped-sapsuckers","category-targhee-national-forest","tag-adult","tag-aspen","tag-begging","tag-cavity","tag-chicks","tag-feeding","tag-female","tag-forest","tag-male","tag-montana","tag-nesting","tag-nesting-cavity","tag-red-naped-sapsucker","tag-sapsucker","tag-sapsuckers","tag-sphyrapicus-nuchalis","tag-woodpecker","tag-woodpeckers","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-naped-sapsucker-male-adult-mia-mcpherson-7265.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-3Zg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15316,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/07\/04\/the-magical-sapsucker-tree-in-clark-county-idaho\/","url_meta":{"origin":15330,"position":0},"title":"The Magical Sapsucker Tree in Clark County, Idaho","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A month ago I photographed a pair of Williamson's Sapsuckers excavating a nesting cavity in Idaho and this past week I spent several days photographing them again.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Williamson's Sapsucker leaving the nesting cavity, Targhee National Forest, Clark County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/williamsons-sapsucker-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-8491.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/williamsons-sapsucker-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-8491.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Red-naped Sapsucker with food for his chicks, Modoc Creek, Targhee National Forest, Clark County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-naped-sapsucker-food-chicks-mia-mcpherson-9018.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-naped-sapsucker-food-chicks-mia-mcpherson-9018.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-naped-sapsucker-food-chicks-mia-mcpherson-9018.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-naped-sapsucker-food-chicks-mia-mcpherson-9018.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-naped-sapsucker-at-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3759.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-naped-sapsucker-at-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3759.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-naped-sapsucker-at-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3759.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-naped-sapsucker-at-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3759.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":47826,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/07\/29\/intruding-red-naped-sapsucker-or-just-a-curious-bird\/","url_meta":{"origin":15330,"position":3},"title":"Intruding Red-naped Sapsucker – Or Just A Curious Bird?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I do not believe that this bird was one of the pair of adult Red-naped Sapsuckers I photographed feeding the chick in the nesting cavity, his bib and breast markings were different from the other adult birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Red-naped Sapsucker on a branch, Targhee National Forest, Clark County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/red-naped-sapsucker-branch-mia-mcpherson-3672.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/red-naped-sapsucker-branch-mia-mcpherson-3672.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":47668,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/07\/14\/adult-red-naped-sapsucker-feeding-its-chick-at-the-nesting-cavity\/","url_meta":{"origin":15330,"position":5},"title":"Adult Red-naped Sapsucker Feeding its Chick at the Nesting Cavity","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Although photographing the Red-naped Sapsuckers at the nesting cavity has been frustrating at times it has also been very rewarding to observe all the action of the sapsucker family.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Red-naped Sapsucker feeding its chick, Targhee National Forest, Clark County, 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