This Month in the Garden (December 2009)...

Yellow-bellied sapsuckers are the only migratory woodpeckers in eastern North America.  The birds may winter as far south as Panama but some individuals, like this one, stay in the southern parts of their breeding territory during the winter.  This bird (or one just like it) has been sighted in a Garden Club member’s Port Washington yard for three winters.  Females can be distinguished from males by the white feathers on their throats.

Sapsuckers drill holes in tree trunks, drinking the sweet sap.  They also feed on the cambium, or growth layer, of bark, especially in fruit trees.  The birds eat the insects attracted to the oozing sap as well as those they find elsewhere on the trees and pluck from the air. Fruit and berries are important parts of their diet as well.

Yellow-bellied sapsuckers drum to mark their territory during mating season.  The birds can beat out their signals on tree trunks, street signs and even chimney flashings without harming themselves.  They nest in deciduous trees, especially birch and aspen where they excavate nesting cavities 20 to 30 feet above the ground.  They raise one brood a year, caring for the nestlings up to four weeks after they hatch.  The same birds mate each year as long as they both survive although they may not spend the entire year as a pair.

Other birds and animals benefit from the sapsucker’s work, feeding at their sap wells and reusing abandon nesting hallows.  Unlike many birds, the yellow-bellied sapsuckers have benefited from cutting old growth forest since they favor open areas and edge habitat.

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November 2010
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August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
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December 2009
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