Subject: Re: Williamson's Sapsuckers
Date: Jun 27 13:53:59 1996
From: "Steven G. Herman" - hermans at elwha.evergreen.edu


So different are the two sexes of Williamson's Sapsucker that they were
originally described as different species. The female was described as
Melanerpes thyroideus in 1852, by John Cassin, the male by a Dr. Newberry
(who named it after his commanding officer, Lt. Williamson). A major
publication in 1860 has the male described as "Williamson's Woodpecker",
the female as the "Brown-headed Woodpecker". The situation was finally
resolved in 1875, by Henry Henshaw, when he followed what he suspected was
a pair to a nest.

And a splendid species it is! I remember the first
ones I saw, just south of Mono Lake, in the Glass Mountain range, in the
late Cretaceous.

Steven G. Herman
The Evergreen State College Olympia WA 98505
(360) 866-6000, ext.6063
943-5751 (home)
hermans at elwha.evergreen.edu