Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

 The yellow-bellied sapsucker is a small to medium woodpecker that nests in northeastern United States and Canada. Unlike most other species of woodpeckers most yellow-bellied sapsuckers migrate south each winter into the southeastern United States, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. On their breeding grounds they prefer a habitat with new growth and younger trees but during the winter they are not as picky.

 As their name implies the yellow-belied sapsucker's primary food source is tree sap. In the spring they drill holes deep into the tree to get to the sap that is traveling up to the tree branches. Later, after the trees leaf out, they drill shallow holes into the tree to get to the sap that is carried down from the leaves. They usually choose a sick or wounded tree from a species with a high sugar content, up to about 10% sugar. They must continually maintain the holes to keep the sap running, using their log tongues to lick it up. Besides eating sap yellow-bellied sapsuckers also eat the cambium, or core of the tree, fruit and insects which they glean from the trees.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

The yellow-bellied sapsucker is a small woodpecker that is native to the eastern half of North America. They breed in the northern United States and much of Canada. they spend the winter in the Gulf states, Mexico and Central America. Their main food source is tree sap, hence the name. They will drink sap from over 1000 species of trees and wooded plants but prefer sap with a high sugar content like those from birch and maple trees. In the spring they bore deep holes into the wood and stick their beaks inside to suck out sap. When the trees leaf out they bore a more shallow hole which they maintain over the summer licking the sap that flows from the hole. They will also eat insects the way that other woodpeckers do but they are just a supplement.

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