Sapsuckers are well-named, as they are famous for their behavior of drilling a series of holes in the bark of a tree and later returning to the oozing holes to drink the sap or catch insects there. Before the 1980's there were only 2 birds in the Sapsucker genus, Sphyrapicus, The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Williamson's Sapsucker. In the mid-1980's the Yellow-breasted Sapsucker, S. varius, was split into 3 species. The Pacific Coast group of birds, the reddest, were separated out as the Red-breasted Sapsucker, S. ruber, and the Rocky Mountain group was given the name Red-naped Sapsucker, S nuchalis , a species we don't often see along the west coast.
The Red-naped is quite similar to the Yellow-breasted Sapsucker found across the lower U.S. from Texas over to the east coast. The most significant difference is a red patch on the back of the neck, the nuchal area or "nape". The males of both species have a red throat with a black border, although the black border on the Red-naped is thinner.
First photo shows the red throat with the thin black border, and just a hint of red on the nape.
Second photo and third photos are crops to show a bit more of the red nape. We can also see a bit of the yellow wash on the shoulder and belly.
For those wishing to read more, especially about the rare occurrence of a female Red-naped with a totally red throat, see this article:
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