![\"red-naped](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/red-naped-sapsucker-4941-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSapsuckers perform some interesting behaviors during nesting season and the pair I photographed three days ago in the Uinta Mountains was no exception.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1\/1600, f\/4, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n They had chicks in the nest and those chicks produce fecal sacs that must be removed from the cavity for sanitary reasons. And the youngsters (usually about 5 of them)\u00a0require more room as they grow so the parents apparently\u00a0enlarge the cavity as more interior room is needed.\u00a0At this stage of the game that\u00a0means that both fecal sacs and wood chips must be regularly removed from the cavity.<\/p>\n This is the male with a beak-full of wood chips and\u00a0a single fecal sac as he emerges from the nest hole.<\/p>\n I noticed a behavior difference between this species and the Williamson’s Sapsuckers I photographed at their nest cavity two years ago. These Red-naped Sapsuckers always flew away with the chips and fecal sacs before disposing of them\u00a0far away\u00a0but the Williamson’s Sapsuckers usually just stuck their heads outside the nest hole and dropped them to\u00a0the ground at the base of the nest tree.<\/p>\n Little behavioral nuances like this always make me wonder about the differing selection pressures that produced them.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note: I promised I would update readers on the condition of the young Short-eared Owl we rescued recently from barbed wire<\/a> when I learned anything new. Blog reader April Olson volunteers at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah (WRCNU) and late last night I heard from April about the condition of the bird. I’m afraid the news isn’t very good.<\/em><\/p>\n The owl has extensive damage to the patagialis (a wing muscle\/tendon) and will not be releasable to the wild.\u00a0They are trying to save the wing so the owl can be placed as an education bird.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n