![\"red-naped](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/red-naped-sapsucker-4873-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThere are obvious advantages to raising your family in a nesting cavity but doing so also has its challenges.<\/p>\n
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1\/800, f\/5, 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 About a month ago I photographed a pair of nesting Red-naped Sapsuckers\u00a0at their\u00a0nest cavity in an aspen tree in the Uinta Mountains (as always I was very<\/em> careful not to disturb them). The work involved with keeping the chicks fed and\u00a0the cavity clean is enormous. The eggs are laid on a bed of wood chips created by pecking the sides and bottom of the cavity (a nice, clean environment) but as soon as the chicks hatch sanitation becomes an issue because they have no choice but to\u00a0defecate inside the cavity.<\/p>\n Feeding visits to the chicks by the parents occur about every 7 minutes for the first 5-6 days but after that they increase to about every 2 minutes from dawn to dusk – talk about a frenetic schedule! And as the male leaves he often removes chick wastes in the form of fecal sacs and excrement-soaked wood chips (he usually drops them at the base of\u00a0a single nearby tree called a “sanitation post”).\u00a0 Notice that this load of chips looks\u00a0pretty clean. I suspect that’s because the chicks (I could hear them inside the cavity)\u00a0were still\u00a0fairly small and producing relatively little waste.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1250, f\/5.6, 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 But eight days later with the chicks\u00a0significantly larger and producing more wastes\u00a0the sanitation trips had become much messier. Here the male has a beak-full of waste-laden and discolored\u00a0chips and a single fecal sac. At this stage Hippoboscid flies (louse flies – obligate parasites of mammals and birds) are frequently associated with the nest cavities and I often see them\u00a0near the nest entrance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A\u00a0big crop of the previous image allows us to better see that\u00a0the adults are beginning to show the wear and tear on some of\u00a0their plumage caused by their hectic schedule. All that activity inside the cavity with the growing chicks when combined with the messiness of the sanitation trips can make them look pretty scruffy.<\/p>\n The single biggest impression I get while observing nesting sapsuckers is the incredible amount of work involved in raising a family – it makes me tired just to watch them.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note: My beloved Antelope Island is on fire! They suspect it was caused by a lightning strike last night (now they’re saying it may have started on the back side of the island\u00a0Thursday night but no one saw or reported it). So far (as of 7 AM Mountain Time)\u00a08000 acres of the 28,000 acre island have burned and the fire is still going strong. <\/em><\/p>\n![\"red-naped](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/red-naped-sapsucker-6836-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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