Day 64: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Yesterday afternoon was beautiful here in Bethesda, so Jared and I did some hiking and birding close by at a marshy area known as Hughes Hollow. We had hoped to see a few new birds to add to my year list, but were not having a lot of luck. As we were nearing the end of our walk, we suddenly saw two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (one of the birds I was hoping for), right in front of us! These medium-sized woodpeckers gave us quite a show for a good fifteen minutes, both feeding voraciously from one tree. I was just hoping to catch a glimpse of one, so seeing two for such a long time was really special.

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers create shallow holes (sap wells) in the bark of trees and feed on sap that flows into them. They make an elaborate system of such sap wells and maintain them daily to ensure sap production. Our two sapsuckers would start at the bottom of the tree and work their way up, feeding from the holes they had made, then fly down to start at the bottom again. It was almost like a dance, the way they would do this over and over again.

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers breed in the northern U.S. and Canada. During the winter, they can be found in the eastern parts of the U.S., Mexico, and Central America. Sapsuckers play an important ecological role in the communities they inhabit. Many animals make use of sapsucker sap wells to supplement their own food intake with sap itself or with insects attracted to the sap. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird, common here in Maryland, appears to be closely allied with sapsuckers. This hummingbird has been known to make its nest near sap wells and may even time its migration to coincide with that of sapsuckers.