Red-breasted Sapsucker

Sphyrapicus ruber

Class

Aves

Order

Piciformes

Family

picidae

Genus

sphyrapicus

Named accurately, the Red-breasted Sapsucker is a medium-size woodpecker with a red head and red breast. Living in mainly lower elevation coniferous forests, you can find these birds foraging in bark for sap, fruit, and arthropods. The Rufous Hummingbird is heavily associated with the Red-breasted Sapsucker as the hummingbirds have been noted to follow the sapsuckers and feed from the holes that the sapsuckers made.