When I was in high school, a classmate, George, was giving a book report and talked about General Custer of Little Big Horn infamy. George said that Custer was called “Ole Yeller Head” and looking around the room said, “He had hair like Amanda’s.”
Well, the poor yellow-bellied sapsucker gets a bad rap, too, as it sounds like these are cowardly birds when really their name comes from their attractive, light yellow breast. Both male and female birds have a red crown, males also have a red throat. Their white wing patches further make identifying these small woodpeckers pretty easy. They have a strong beck, males peck out holes, sometimes in fungal infested trees for nesting sites and both sexes make sap wells in trees. They do not peck in trees for insects, but actually lap sap.
