Most of us either never see a yellow-bellied sapsucker, or only see one that is working on a tree. Unfortunately a male yellow-bellied sapsucker met up with a window on the front of our house, and that was the end of him. It did allow me to get some very close-up photos of the bird, which has very dramatic red on its head and chin. I hope my readers don't find the photo below too gruesome. There are several more at my Flickr site. Sapsuckers are a type of woodpecker. According to the Cornell ornithology website, sapsuckers "drill small sap wells in regularly spaced rows or columns on tree trunks. They eat the exposed inner bark and cambium and drink the sugary sap that flows from these pits. Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have been found to tap over 250 species of trees and vines. Sap composes up to 20 percent of their diet and is especially important in late summer and autumn, or any time when other food sources are scarce."
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