The habits of the yellow-bellied sapsuckers
If you scoff at birding, the yellow-bellied sapsucker's name is a sure trigger for har-de-har jocosity.
Go ahead. Laugh. But get past the knee slapping and marvel. Like beavers, the funny-named bird is a keystone species — one that alters the environment in a way that benefits other birds, mammals and insects alike.
“They're my favorite woodpecker species,” said Bethany Sheffer, volunteer coordinator and naturalist at the Sharon Audubon Center, owned by Audubon Connecticut.
“I just love them,” said Kathy Hagadorn, executive director of the Deer Pond Farm nature sanctuary in Sherman, owned by the Connecticut Audubon Society. “It's how they look, how they call.”
They're the only true migratory woodpecker in the state. Unlike the crisp drum-rolls of other woodpeckers in spring, yellowbellied sapsucker's distinct drumming has been compared to Morse code — a few rapid taps, then an irregular, slowing coda.
And they're that rarity — a bird species that's infiltrating the state from the north, rather than drifting up from the south.
A few decades ago, yellow-bellied sapsuckers only bred in Connecticut in the northwest corner of the state. The new Connecticut Bird Atlas shows them breeding now in Fairfield County and in towns to the east and south.
Ken Elkins, community conservation manager for Audubon Connecticut, said it used to be a thrill to see the occasional yellowbellied sapsucker as a winter visitor at the Bent of the River nature center in Southbury
“Now, they're breeding in multiple sites,” he said.
Patrick Comins, executive director of the Connecticut Audubon Society, said common ravens are the only other bird he can think of that's come down from the north woods to breed in Connecticut.
The sapsucker's spread, he said, may just be due to opportunism. They're a woodland species that, like a lot of the state's wildlife, has gotten used to cohabiting with humans.
“You can find them in the suburbs now,'' Comins said.
Elkins said it may also have to do with the state's maturing forests. Sapsuckers depend on trees like birch, hemlocks and maples. There are now more of these mature trees spread throughout the state, he said, so there is more habitat for them, and more places to breed.
There are four sapsucker species in the U.S. The yellow-bellied is the only one found east of the Mississippi.
It's in the woodpecker family and has woodpecker-y looks. It's robinsized and chunky, with a sharp, stout bill. It has a cap of red plumage on its head — the males have red on their throats as well — and strong white stripes on their black wings. And yes, it has a pale yellow belly.
Because they feed on sap, sapsuckers head south in winter, where trees aren't dormant.
When they return in the spring, males hammer out their irregular cadence on trees or telephone poles, or the sides of houses, to establish territory and attract a mate. Like other woodpeckers, they're cavity-nesters
Sapsuckers get their name from their dietary habits.
They drill a neatly-fashioned grid of holes in the bark of a tree, then feed on the sap that drips out. They return regularly to maintain the site and keep the sap flowing. When one grid dries up, they drill another higher up.
In doing so, they alter the forest ecology. The sap feeds bees and wasps. The sapsuckers return to feed on the bugs stuck in the ooze. (They also catch insects on the wing, like flycatchers.)
Squirrels and bats sip at the flowing tap. So do other birds, including titmice, chickadees and phoebes.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds, arriving back north at the end of their migration, have few flowers to feed on in early spring. So a sapsucker's sap well is nature's hummingbird feeder — a dependable source of nutrition until things start blooming.
The sapsucker's perfect spacing of the hole they drill — a visual square of Morse code — is a wonder on its own.
“If I knew why, it would be an answer to one of the great mysteries,” Comins said of the sap well grids. “It may be that one sapsucker did it and it worked and they just evolved that way.”
Hagadorn of Deer Pond Farm said yellow-bellied sapsuckers' knocking, their striking appearance, and the sap wells they drill are all to be gladly received.
“Woodpeckers really are a sign of a healthy forest,” she said. “They are really letting us know what's going on. Hopefully, we can listen to their Morse code messages.”