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Today I got some better pictures of a sapsucker that was going around making holes in trees to test for or drink some tree sap. Someone told me that they make it easier for hummingbirds when they first return because on cold days when plants aren't producing nectar hummingbirds go around to holes the sapsuckers made and sip it and to eat tiny insects drawn to it. So hurray for yellow-bellied sapsuckers in the woods!
Sphyrapicus varius Baird. - Wurmspecht - Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
Colaptes auratus Vig. - Goldspecht - Flicker.
Melanerpes carolinus Ridgw. - Carolinaspecht - Red-bellied Woodpecker.
Melanerpes erythrocephalus Sw. - Rotkopfspecht - Red-headed Woodpecker.
Melanerpes formicivorus bairdi Ridgw. - Sammelspecht - California Woodpecker.
Ceophloeus pileatus Cab. - Haubenspecht - Pileated Woodpecker.
Die Nordamerikanische Vogelwelt (1891) | Henry Nehrling, Robert Ridgway | Biodiversity Heritage Library | Flickr
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius), male, taken February 6, 2026, in Georgia, US
A gorgeous sapsucker hard at work drilling holes into his chosen tree! I was initially attracted to this guy by his call. I had been searching for a hawk I'd seen in the area and mistook his calls for a bluejay poorly mimicking a hawk's cry. I thought it might be making hawk sounds because it was with the hawk I was looking for, but it turned out to be this guy instead! I've seen sapsuckers only twice before and got good photos of neither. This individual was in a very high-traffic location, so he was extremely tolerant to my presence compared to the average woodland woodpecker. I was able to get fairly close for some wonderful shots of him, and I also got a couple videos of him working his tree!
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) with a row of the sap wells he has chiseled into the tree.
January 27, 2022
Southeastern Pennsylvania
I just found out that this is the only migratory woodpecker in my region, and I won’t be seeing them during breeding season.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius)
© Alain Kemp
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius)
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
