Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Sphyrapicus varius

Written by Chris Coyle

The name Sapsucker derives from their unique drilling of trees and feeding on sap.

Yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) female Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0

HABITAT:

Sapsuckers breed from Mackenzie Territory to Cape Breton Island and south to Missouri and Massachusetts. In the wintertime they are found from Iowa to Massachusetts and south as far as Panama. Sapsuckers favor deciduous or mixed deciduous/coniferous forests.

NESTING:

Nesting chambers are constructed high in trees by mated pairs of birds. Sapsuckers excavate cavities in dead or living trees with rotted heartwood. Nest construction may often take a week or more of work. Females lay a clutch of four to seven eggs. Both parents take part in incubating the eggs.

BEHAVIOR:

They are the most migratory of all woodpeckers. Trees sap is running when they arrive at their spring breeding areas. They drill small, round or elliptical holes in tree trunks resulting in regular patterns in rings around the tree or in vertical rows.

FOOD:

Tree sap and insects which become stuck on the sap. These birds may consume up to eight teaspoonfuls per day. They also eat cambium, a jellylike material growing beneath the bark. Also consumed is the delicate inner layer of wood called bast.

PREDATORS:

Sapsuckers are especially prone to predation by racoons, but also snakes when nesting.