Hi folks,
This morning I photographed a sapsucker at the Boulder Community Gardens. My tentative ID is that it's a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, but it confuses me because it doesn't show white wing patches. I'd appreciate any ID suggestions.
Photos are at https://ebird.org/checklist/S205728343.
I'm thinking that this bird is a young female, transitioning between juvenile and adult plumage. There's a red patch on the top of the head but a white throat patch. It's speckled overall, with a general dark appearance. It has faint yellow coloring to the belly. Maybe the white wing patches are actually covered by the wind-blown chest feathers.
I saw the same bird exactly a week ago to the hour on the same tree. It puzzled me a week ago because I didn't see white wing patches then either. A week ago, I didn't have my camera.
The habitat is north-central Boulder on the edge of a suburban housing development about 3/4 east of the foothills.
Thanks,
Richard Trinkner
Boulder County
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