The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) is a spring migrant that usually returns to Minnesota in April after most of the freezing weather is finished.
Its back coloration is different from the Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers we normally see throughout the year, but its camouflage is like the Brown Creeper – patterned like tree bark. So, it might be difficult to detect visually. However, once it starts feeding, it can be located by its creation of a horizontal row of holes in the trunks of sappy trees.
Its drumming is also distinctive. David Sibley describes it as “five rapid taps followed by gradual slowing with occasional double taps.” It is more stuttered and slower than woodpeckers and sounds like a Morse code message.
Sapsuckers have a tongue with a tip that has small hairs that are adapted for soaking up the sap rather than grabbing onto larvae like woodpeckers. The sapsuckers are truly team-players. The resulting sap wells are appreciated by squirrels, hummingbirds and insects, which in turn are appreciated by other birds that like to have their insect diets with added sweetener. Its nest holes make attractive residence options for other birds.
The male is immediately identified by its red throat and forehead. The female also has a red cap but has a white throat. A juvenile will not have red markings until it gets older.
The sapsucker found in Minnesota has a yellow belly that varies in color intensity and requires an underside view. In Western-genre books and movies, the adjective “Yellow-bellied” has come to be associated with cowardice. It doesn’t appear to have anything to do with our sapsucker. Three other sapsuckers are found in the western areas of Canada, Mexico and the USA: Williamson’s, Red-breasted and Red-naped.
The first Genus name Sphyrapicus is from the Greek sphrya meaning mallet or hammer, and the Latin picus, meaning woodpecker. The mottled black and white markings result in the scientific species name varius, which means variegated, which is a synonym for black and white plumage.
Its size, 8 to 9 inches long, is a little smaller than a Hairy Woodpecker, and a little larger than a Downy. It has 14- to 16-inch wings with a white wing-bar that is visible when it flies. It doesn’t display a white back like Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers.
The male does most of the nest excavation, then the female lays four to seven eggs on wood chips left over from the excavation. Females will seek the nest site used in the previous year.
Both adults share incubation duties. The eggs hatch in 12 to 13 days. The young leave the nest 25 to 29 days after hatching.
There is only one brood per year. Nests are often reused year after year. Sapsuckers will feed on a combination of ants, beetles, spiders, larvae and sap wells during their nesting season in Minnesota. Most nesting is located in more northerly counties, but in the Minnesota River Valley, you might be lucky to have a nest near you.
Access to the web-based resources links in this article will let you learn their vocal and drumming sounds and hopefully point you toward this bird with a funny name and characteristics unique in the woodpecker world.
For more information:
- The Sibley Guide to Birds, David Allen Sibley
- Reader’s Digest Book of North American Birds
- Birds of Minnesota, Robert B. Janssen
- Breeding Birds of Minnesota, Pfannmuller, Niemi and Green
- The Audubon Society’s Encyclopedia of North American Birds, John K. Terres
- Birds of the World, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Online: All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology LINK
- Online: Minnesota Seasons – Exploring Nature in Minnesota LINK
- Online: Minnesota Breed Bird Atlas
- Online: Birds of the World
