#sphyrapicus

[herpsandbirds]

Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber), male with sap wells, family Picidae, order Piciformes, Western U.S.

photograph by Mick Thompson

[best-bird-tournament]

Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus)

Which is the best bird?

Red-naped sapsucker

Red-breasted sapsucker

Williamson's sapsucker

Yellow-bellied sapsucker

Voting ended onMay 31, 2025

[birdblues]

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

[curiouscatalog]

From: Baird, Spencer Fullerton.  A history of North American birds. Boston : Little, Brown, 1875

QL681 .B16 volume 2

[animalids]

Red-breasted sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber)

Photo by Marlin Harms

[dendroica]

Yellow-bellied sapsucker (via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region)

Winter is a good time to glimpse a most peculiar type of woodpecker. Unlike other woodpeckers, sapsuckers eschew eating larvae in dead wood, opting instead to drill for sweet sap (they supplement their diet with ants and other insects attracted to the sugary goodness). Look for neat, horizontal rows of holes in trees like maple, hickory, or poplar - if you've seen this before, you have a sapsucker living in your neighborhood!

Credit: Michael Schramm/USFWS

[that-crazy-scorpio-man]

Yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) and, aw, it’s a juvenile that’s on its way to being an adult.  Last juvenile I saw had a brown head.

[herpsandbirds]

Williamson’s Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus), family Picidae, order Piciformes, WA, USA

photograph by Ben Knoot