The sapsuckers are back.

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers showed up yesterday and today we had three chasing each other around our "sapsucker tree".
The really like an old half dead tree int the yard above all others.
Ended up with a 6 woodpecker day. Only one I missed was a red-head, they aren't back yet. Pileated (heard), downy, hairy, flicker, red-bellied and the sapsucker.
Sphyrapicus varius
The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker makes two kinds of holes in trees to harvest sap. Round holes extend deep in the tree and are not enlarged. The sapsucker inserts its bill into the hole to probe for sap. Rectangular holes are shallower, and must be maintained continually for the sap to flow. The sapsucker licks the sap from these holes, and eats the cambium of the tree too. New holes usually are made in a line with old holes, or in a new line above the old.
source - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/gui…/Yellow-bellied_Sapsucker/

Comments

Paul Nicholson said…
Hi Ric. Congrats on the beautiful Prothon photo that won Carolinian Canada's 2018 Photo Contest! Gorgeous shot. https://caroliniancanada.ca/expo/photocontest/2018 Paul Nicholson
6:49 pm
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