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| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - Ben Caruthers |
Guest blogger Ben Caruthers, MN
We live on 10 acres and we have a lot of trees, predominately post oak . In our front yard, closest to our living room windows is the only maple tree on the property. When we first moved here in 2012 we noticed the lines of neatly drilled holes all over the tree. Every winter for the past three years we have watched a female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (YBSS) feeding from holes in the tree. She can usually only be seen on days when it is warm enough for the sap to flow from the tree.
On very warm days we have also observed her hunting for insects which are attracted to sap from the holes, a protein course to the otherwise carbohydrate diet. YBSS may also feed on sap from other tree species with high sugar concentration in their sap including hickory trees. We also have several hickory trees on the property, but I have never seen her feeding from them.
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| Carolina Chickadee at work - Ben Caruthers |
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| Purple Finch -Ben Caruthers |
One interesting thing I noticed in late December is that there were several other birds feeding on the sap flowing from the holes that the sapsucker created in the maple tree. We have seen Purple Finches, Tufted Tifmouse, Carolina Chickadee and Downy Woodpecker drinking the sweet treat. Everyone knows that hummingbirds like to drink nectar, and some bird guides note that they feed after sapsuckers.
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are the only eastern woodpecker in North America that are truly migratory. Southern Missouri is at the northern part of the YBBS range so it is unlikely we will ever see a Ruby-throated hummingbird feeding after a sapsucker in our front yard. They winter in places like Abaco, Bahamas where they feast on palms, the bird version of a margarita on the beach.
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| YBSS in action- BC |
She is a beautiful bird with a funny sounding name* and unusual avian feeding habits and we are grateful that she chooses to spend part of her winter in our front yard. As long as the sap is flowing freely, so does her waste disposal system. I spent a weird amount of time trying to time photos to catch her mid-movement. (Editor's note: It takes 43 gallons of sap to make a gallon of maple syrup so you can imagine how much the YBSS puts out to get its sugar load. Birds don't make urine but put out uric acid which makes their poop a pasty white.)
These are a few of my favorite sources:
All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | Audubon Field Guide
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| Gertrude Turner |
*Editors note: In the 1950's cartoons, "Yellow-bellied Sapsucker" was what Yosemite Sam called Bugs Bunny. It was years later that we of that generation discovered it was an actual bird. In the previous century some groups advocated shooting them to prevent damage to trees! The migratory Bird Act now protects them.
The good news is they eat insects coming to the sap and I frequently see their damage on the invading red cedars. The bad news is they can occasionally kill a tree by successive girdling holes. Not a problem in a large mixed forest and I have seen this only once in several hundred acres on a 4" diameter maple.
