A pair of these wee beauties have nested in or near the yard for many years and I’ve always loved seeing them and hearing their piping little calls. Only this year have I tried to photograph them and I did more than that – I got enough good video footage for a short film. Woo hoo! So without further ado, my little ‘suckers –
They’re the size of Downy woodpeckers (about 6 inches) and have similar markings. Primarily they feed on sap as you’d think, but they also snare insects when possible. The type of holes in the video below are deeper and only the deep ones are round. They also drill more rectangular holes that are shallow and do not run sap all the time the way the deeper holes do. The tree heals the shallow holes and so the woodpeckers have to drill agin for the sap to flow. They are not picky about what kind of tree either and their holes can be found on hundreds of species.
The part with the bird with his back to me was cut out of a 5-minute continuous clip. They absolutely love this tree and so do other woodpeckers and warblers. As you see, they drill holes in nearly straight lines so if you see strips of bark or fallen trees with a pattern like this, you can bet it was sapsuckers that did it.
They are the only Eastern North American woodpecker to fully migrate from summer to winter. Many populations of Ruby-throated hummingbirds rely so heavily on their sap wells that they time their migrations to take advantage of woodpecker’s handiwork. Other birds, bats and even porcupines like them, too. Insects are also drawn to the sticky stuff, but you can bet what happens to them – they get trapped in it and make meals for everyone else.
Sorry this was a bit late. Filmed and photographed in May in the backyard.
Fun story. That’s a lot of work for just a little bit of reward.
Thanks. They’re fun and so it wasn’t a bad trade off. I had fun spending time with them.
What a lovely video! I probably have mistaken many a sapsucker for a woodpecker simply because of the red caps. When we were kids, anybody wearing a bright yellow rain suit – hood, coat, and / of pants, was automatically a “yellow bellied sapsucker” – and what a misnomer it was! It is always a pleasure to see birds and other creatures in their element. Thanks so much!!
Well sapsuckers are woodpeckers so you weren’t wrong at all. Just specialized differently. And I wish I had gotten a view of that famously-named belly, but none were too cooperative.
Now that is interesting!
I probably should have clarified that in the post itself. Sometimes I think everyone knows what I know or is a mind reader!
I am the same!