[EBB Sightings] Sapsucker hybrid on Mt. Diablo

Today, Jan. 20, Denise Wight and I followed-up on an unusual sapsucker
sighting I had made with Phil Gordon during last December's CBC.  We
relocated this sapsucker today, and Denise and I determined that this
sapsucker was a hybrid between a Red-naped and a Red-bellied Sapsucker. 
Based on an old paper from Ned and Carla Johnson in the Jan. 1985 Auk:
http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v102n01/p0001-p0015.pdf
I would give this hybrid an index of 3.5 on a 0 (pure Red-breasted) to 12
(pure Red-naped) index scale.

This sapsucker is easy to find. It is a little over 1/2 mile from the Mt.
Diablo entrance station on North Gate Rd.  After driving past the 1st
driveway to a ranch house on the right, the road makes a 90 degree
righthand turn.  Drive about .2 miles and park by a metal grren gate on
the right.  The sapsucker was spotted in a almond tree on the right side
(west) of the road. This tree is about 8 feet from the road and I've
marked the tree with a large rectangular stone in the crouch of the tree. 
In December, this sapsucker was also spotted in the almond trees just
across the street.

Please note that a "pure-bred" Red-breasted Sapsucker visits this same
tree.  We stopped at this tree at 8:00 AM and saw the "pure-bred"
Red-breasted Sapsucker and only located the hybrid later in the morning at
10:00 AM.  I first saw this hybrid sapsucker in the late morning last
December. The hybrid is very tame, we were able to get close views for
over 15 minutes.

We also proceeded to nearby Newhall community park to see if we could
relocate the yellow-bellied Sapsucker that was spotted in previous years
along the riparian corridor between the parking lot and the pond.  No luck
in the 1/2 hour we were there but we spotted fresh sapsucker holes in the
target tree known for this sapsucker.

I'll post the other interesting birds we spotted in a later post.

--Ted Robertson--