Red-naped sapsuckers

I am always a few days behind with my blog as it takes me a few days to get my pictures downloaded

Last Thursday I decided to spend the afternoon in the mountains east of Rexburg, in the Moody Creek area, looking for huckleberries. I found a lot of green ones, but no ripe ones yet. They are about two to three weeks away from really producing.

I was leisurely driving down a mountain road when I heard the sound of baby woodpeckers in some aspen trees. I pulled over and watched until I saw an adult Red-naped sapsucker land on a tree. After it left, I positioned myself so I could watch. Both adults would bring bills full of sap, insects and even berries to the young.

Here is a picture of an adult feeding the young.


After feeding the young the adult would fly to a near-by branch and pound away on it.
Or it would wipe its bill off on the branch before flying off to gather some more goodies.
I watched this operation as both parents were kept busy as the young ones would peer out of the nest waiting its turn for food. Sometimes yelling to get the parents to hurry up did the trick.