The yellow-bellied sapsucker has an unfortunate name— it actually laps, not sucks, sap with its brush-like tongue and it has a light yellow chest. Unfortunately, sucker and yellow-bellied have a derogatory ring to them as this is a lovely and quite fascinating bird. Amazingly migratory, it nests in our part of the country as well as in Alaska and Canada and drills sap wells into trees, over years they are lined up perfectly above the depressions of earlier drilling.
They work on them to keep the sap flowing and will also eat insects attracted to the sweet, nutritious phloem liquid produced when the deciduous trees leafed out and actively photosynthesizing. They prefer trees with thin bark bark butI will feed on conifers as well. Pine sap doesn’t sound as tasty as maple sap, but who am I to quibble.
