| | Royal Alberta Museum: Collections and Research: Ornithology: Research: Project Sapsucker |
 | | Until recently these three species of sapsuckers were considered different races of Sphyrapicus varius, because of evidence of hybridization between the forms where their ranges overlap. |
 | | Areas of contact between the different species are located in central BC (for the Yellow-bellied and Red-breasted sapsuckers), in south-central BC and southward (for the Red-naped and Red-breasted sapsuckers), and in southwestern Alberta (for the Yellow-bellied and Red-naped sapsuckers). |
 | | The first in-depth look at the reproductive interactions between the different species of sapsuckers in the Sphyrapicus varius complex took place almost 50 years ago, when Howell (1952) looked at hybridization between the Red-breasted and the Yellow-bellied sapsuckers in central British Columbia, and between the Red-breasted and Red-naped sapsuckers in northeastern California. |
| www.royalalbertamuseum.ca /natural/birds/projects/prevwk.htm (745 words) |