Bird Of The Week: Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
Kai Goldstein | February 18, 2025
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker || Sphyrapicus varius
Sometimes while walking past a tree, you might notice evenly spaced holes drilled in neat rows. These holes are not the work of a human, but instead the sap wells of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
This member of the woodpecker family is commonly responsible for drilling these rows of holes that leak sap in spring and summer. Although they prefer to tap birches and maples for their high sugar concentrations, they’ve been found drilling into over 1,000 species of trees, including the Norway Spruce pictured. In early spring they drill deep, circular holes into the tree’s xylem to harvest sap coming up from the roots. Once the tree has put out leaves, they drill shallower, rectangular holes for harvesting the sap coming down through the phloem with their specialized tongues. These shallow holes have to be tended to frequently or they’ll seal up. Hummingbirds will sometimes use these sap wells as a food source if there’s no one there to defend them. The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is the only woodpecker in eastern North America that is completely migratory, spending the warmer months from east-central Alaska to the northeastern United States. Keep your eyes peeled for their bright red heads and black-and-white backs.
