Red-Naped Sapsucker in Monterey County, California
Red-naped Sapsucker in Monterey County, California.-On May 19, 1958, we observed a male Red-naped Sapsucker (Sphyrupicus vtius nudzdis) at the Hastings Reservation, Monterey County, California. This locality is two and one-half miles east of Jamesburg and approximately 20 miles east of the Pacific Ocean at Point Sur. The bird was working on the trunks of small fruit trees near a house; it was observed for about seven minutes. On May 20 it was seen again in the same place, and on May 21 it was heard calling several times and seen twice, both times drilling on an elm tree near the house. The trunk of the elm bore fresh perforations, obviously the work of this individual.
The only race with which the identity of this bird might have been confused is typical varius, but this form has been recorded in California only once (Davis and Howell, Condor, 53, 1951:102). Further, the nape of the individual which we observed was definitely red. Although nuchdis has been recorded a few times in the coastal region of California, these prior records were made in the fall and winter. The occurrence of nuchdis at such a late date and so far from its nearest breeding grounds, the White Mountains of extreme central eastern California, is most unusual. Indeed, the latest seasonal record of sapsuckers of the “Red-breasted” type (presumably S. v. daggetti), which winter regularly at the Hastings Reservation, in the period from 1937 to 1947 at that locality, was made on April 16, 1940 (Linsdale, Condor, 49, 1947:238).-JOHN DAVIS and BETTY S. DAVIS, University of California Hastings Resewation, Carmel Valley, California, May 26, 1958.
