I imagine that winter sapsuckers in Oregon are something like pink-footed
gulls. Many individuals are biologically ambiguous. Not many people are
paying attention, and when they try to they may wish they hadn't.
Lars
On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 8:58 AM, Jen Sanford <jjsanford@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi all,
At the risk of beating a possibly dead sapsucker horse here, I wanted to
share the blog post I put together this morning about the Wasco County bird
in question:
http://www.iusedtohatebirds.com/2016/03/the-sapsucker-dilemma.html
I dug into my photos and pulled out an assortment of Red-breasted
Sapsucker images from the Portland/Multnomah area in an effort to
understand what is normal and what is not. I find so much variation that I
am only more confused. Stephen Shunk's hybrid article is very interesting
but did not sway me in either direction as to the identity of my Wasco
bird.
Maybe Sibley said it best with "Plumage variation within each of the three
closely related sapsuckers-and interbreeding where ranges overlap-produces
a small number of individuals not safely identified."
Good birding,
Jen Sanford
Portland
