Yellow-bellied and Red-naped sapsuckers are closely related and look similar and even hybridize, though their ranges don't overlap much. Red-naped is mostly found west of the Great Plains and Yellow-bellied east and also into northwest Canada. Some Yellow-bellieds have red on their napes and some Red-napeds lack that feature, adding to the confusion.
The two main differences pointed out in most field guides are:
that the red on the throat of Red-naped can touch the white on the face, while on Yellow-bellied the red is separated by a complete black line and...
that the white on the back of Red-naped is organized into two rather neat columns, making it appear darker overall unlike the more "messy" white pattern of Yellow-bellied.
The bird pictured here, which I photographed in James City County, feeding on holly berries, on Oct 23, 2023 seems to show the two features of Red-naped above and also has a reddish tint on the nape, though a little hard to see in the photos. The blurry photo of the left side also shows the lack of the black border to red throat on that side.
I'm awaiting comments from some experts and will add them here. If anyone else has comments, please send to taberzz@aol.com. Brian Taber
