This male White-headed Woodpecker is feeding on sap from an opening that it excavated in this aspen tree. This behavior is rare for White-headeds, which do not typically excavate their own sap wells, contrary to the sapsuckers.

One of the most sought-after of our local woodpecker species, the Black-backed thrives on wood-boring beetle larvae in recently burned forests.

An adult Lewis’s Woodpecker preparing its insect prey for delivery to nestlings. This species spends most of its time feeding on aerial insects above the forest canopy. Then, it returns to an ‘anvil’ site to smash up the insects from multiple forays, making it easier for the nestlings to accept the food.

This beautiful adult Red-breasted Sapsucker has a genetic mutation called leucism that prevents it from expressing most of its melanin pigmentation. This individual—here feeding at fresh sap wells—was mated to the ‘normal’ sapsucker in the next photo.

This sapsucker was mated to the leucistic individual in the prior photo. This bird may be a hybrid Red-breasted x Red-naped, but this is difficult to assess in this image.

This glowing Red-breasted Sapsucker is a typical individual of the northern ‘ruber’ subspecies.

This male Williamson’s Sapsucker is preparing to deliver food to nestlings. The Williamson’s is the most sexually dichromatic woodpecker in the world, with the male and female showing the greatest plumage differences among all the world’s 220+ woodpecker species.

A female Williamson’s Sapsucker is preparing to enter a nest cavity. This individual was mated to the male in the prior image. See the caption there for details.

‘Pure’ Red-naped Sapsuckers are rare in our region, but they can often be found mated to Red-breasted Sapsuckers in local riparian habitats.

This male Downy Woodpecker is leaving the nest cavity after delivering food to nestlings.