When I was a little kid, we lived on Washington Avenue in Tyrone. I remember wandering toward an alley with a little bird whistle in my hand. I really cut my birding teeth in that part of town, and even as a kid still in the single digits, I managed to see and identify quite a few birds. The most memorable was a Chukar Partridge that had somehow escaped Mr. Bickel’s aviary years ago. I thought I had stumbled onto buried treasure.
But I digress.
As I stepped out into the alley from the corner of a house, a pack of kids came barreling past on their bicycles and knocked me clean over. I hit the ground hard. An older man nearby rushed over to help, shaking his fist as the kids disappeared down the street and yelling,
“You yellow-bellied sapsuckers!”
It struck me then—and still does—as an odd insult.
Funny thing is, many people don’t realize that Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is actually the name of a bird. And honestly? I’d take it as a compliment. Just look at them.
(These photos were taken today in Blair County.)
Sapsuckers are best known for drilling sap wells into the trunks of trees. The species of tree can vary—maple, birch, hickory, even pines—with individual birds seeming to have their own preferences. The depth of the holes can even tell you when they were made: deep wells like those pictured here are typically winter drillings, while the shallow, neatly spaced wells are created in spring.
Despite their reputation, these wells rarely harm the tree. In fact, they benefit a whole host of other wildlife. Hummingbirds, kinglets, warblers, squirrels, insects—just about anything willing to lap up the sugary sap—takes advantage of these ready-made energy stations.
I remember walking behind the fields of my grandparents’ house as a boy and coming upon a pile of birch logs, long dead, still riddled with those unmistakable drill marks. Even then, I knew exactly who had made them—despite never having actually seen the woodpecker itself at that point.
The individual I photographed here is fairly easy to identify, with its bold facial pattern, red forehead, and red throat. Immature birds, however, can be trickier and are often confused with Downy or Hairy Woodpeckers—especially by new birders. One of the best field marks to look for is the vertical white stripe that “slashes” up the side where the wing meets the flanks. It’s a dead giveaway.
Have you seen any sapsuckers lately? If so, let me know in the comments—and feel free to share your photos.