Male and female Williamson's sapsuckers look so different that until 1873, ornithologists thought they represented two distinct species. The mostly black male has a bright yellow belly and red chin. The female is pale brown with barred back and wings and dull yellow belly.

It is a summer resident of forests in the Blue Mountains, on the east slope of the Cascades and east to Warner Mountains in the south. It breeds in mid - to high-elevation mature or old-growth conifer forests with fairly open canopy cover, and large dead trees suitable for nest cavities.

Hear the call of the Williamson's sapsucker

Photo by Ken Schneider, Flickr