Another Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

We've had a female sapsucker frequenting our yard and today a male came by. He was much more aggressive, chasing away the red-bellied and downy woodpeckers.

When will winter end?

Cardinal


Brown Creeper


Sapsucker

This sapsucker seems to be thriving, but we're getting tired of the cold and snow. Can't wait for the night heron and oriole to return, but we have a few months to go.
If it weren't for scrabble and RumChata, we'd go crazy.

Winter Birds

Song Sparrow

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Brown Creeper

Here are a few of the less common winter birds in our yard.

Flicker and Sapsucker

Northern Flicker


Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

It's always a special day when the sapsucker or flicker make an apperance.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

 

When it gets below freezing at night and above freezing during the day, the sap is running and the sapsuckers are active. We had two in the yard yesterday.

Yellow-bellied sapsucker sucking sap

Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers

This time of year is ideal for sapsuckers. When it's freezing at night and above freezing in the day, the sap flows the most. It's also a good time for making maple syrup.

The sapsucker opens up holes in the tree that benefit him and other birds. We've seen red-bellied woodpeckers, goldfinch, and chickadees eat either sap or insects from these holes.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Backyard Birds: Yellow Bellied Sapsucker and White-breasted Nuthatch

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

White-breasted Nuthatch

These birds are more frequent visitors to our yard with the cooler weather.

Sandy Hook has some fine berries

Yellow-Rumped Warbler 

Finch 

Juvenile Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

We went to Sandy Hook again for the fall migration. Many birds liked the berries on these trees. We are just learning to identify birds and aren't ready to start on trees yet.

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

The juvenile yellow-bellied sapsucker was a nice find at Sandy Hook. In the top photo, you can see a bit of red on the head if you click to enlarge. We get an occasional sapsucker at our house, but had never seen a juvenile before.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Mike brought the camera out while Chris was ice skating on the lake. He didn't get any pictures of Chris, but he got this great picture of a male yellow-bellied sapsucker digging another hole in the tree and having a sap breakfast. After this, we had pancakes with maple syrup.

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

 

 

A male sapsucker came by today and sampled the sap from a few trees tapping holes in each.

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

We are glad to see another of our winter bird friends back. The yellow-bellied sapsucker made an appearance about a week ago and we finally got some pictures of her. Hopefully, we will see a male sapsucker this year too.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

           

Here are two pictures of the same yellow-bellied sapsucker that had lunch here today. You can see the holes in the tree, and he often comes back to them and has a meal here. He made quite a pig of himself today, so I was able to take tons of pictures of him. I think these guys are really fun to watch! I am going to put up several of his pictures since he was so cooperative for me (Chris).

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

You can see he has another row of holes down in this part of the same tree.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Woodpecker

The sapsucker actually had a lot of company in this tree today. At one point there were three other woodpeckers. They were never all close enough for me to get a good shot, but at least I got these two together. I am not sure if the woodpecker is a hairy or downy, but it is a female since there is no red on the head. My guess is it's a hairy based on the size of the bill.