Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. That might be what everybody called the kid down the street, but it is the real name of one of our most common winter woodpeckers. These woodpeckers are about eight inches tall, have black and white stripes across the back and narrow white stripes visible on their folded wings. The males have a red throat patch while the females’ throat is white. This species spends its summer in the northern United States and Canada during which time breeding occurs. Sapsuckers, as all woodpeckers, build their nests in holes in trees (or posts, wooden houses, etc.) and a mated pair usually produces five or six white eggs.

September marks the arrival of the sapsuckers in Louisiana. The birds generally distribute themselves in woodlands, but most of us associate them with trees in residential areas. Actually, fewer people actually recognize the sapsucker than those who have made note of their feeding on trees. Unlike all other local woodpeckers, they drill parallel rows of small round holes on limbs and trunks of a variety of trees. In my neighborhood, they seem to prefer elm, oak, ash, and maple trees.

Their drilling activity usually has little impact on healthy trees, but an occasional limb or young tree may die. Damage to the cambium may yield wood too marred to be of commercial use.

The birds repeatedly visit the holes to gather sap and insects that become mired after also being lured by the nutritious fluid. Insects from different sources and fruits make up the remainder of the diet.

Most of our Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers fly north by late March, and virtually all have gone by early May.

Between September and April, keep a sharp eye out and you may see one of these beautiful birds. If you have never noticed the tell-tale holes on a tree, look around and you will certainly find limbs where they have been busy “farming” their sap and insects.

Also published in Nature Profile, The Times Picayune, March 17, 1982.