Similar to many woodpeckers, the red-naped sapsucker has the familiar black and white color scheme. It has a red crown and a patch of red on the back of its head. Adult males have red chins and throats. Fameles have white chins and reddish throats.

Look for these 8- to 9-inch long woodpeckers in the Great Basin, the Rocky Mountains and the southern regions of California, New Mexico and Arizona, and into Mesico. In the winter, they migrate south to Central America.

The males courtship dance consists of a bow and flicks of his wings in front of the female. He may tap at the nest entrance. The nest is built in live birch, cottonwood and aspen trees, frequently near water. The nest is lined with wood chips and is built in the same tree year after year, but not necessarily in the same hole. Other birds use abandoned sapsucker sites to build their own nests.

The female lays four or five white eggs and both she and her mate care for them.