I don’t see many of these, so have to settle for these pictures I took several months ago on a day when she wasn’t in good lighting. I am assuming it is a she because I can’t see any red markings under the beak.

I found some interesting facts about these birds from the internet:

This species will drill a network of little holes called “sapwells” into the bark of trees, where sugar-rich sap wells up, which they then drink.

A group of sapsuckers is collectively known as a “slurp” of sapsuckers.

The name “yellow-bellied sapsucker” makes them sound like a cowardly character from the three stooges, but they’re actually pretty aggressive.

They’re very modern parents. The males do just as much work (if not more) building the nest, incubating the eggs, brooding nestlings, and feeding the nestlings and fledglings as the females. In fact, some research suggests the nest can survive if the female dies, but if the male dies, the nest will fail.

In terms of migration, yellow-bellied sapsuckers are some of the only migratory woodpeckers.

It’s thought that while most woodpeckers can get by on insects and other invertebrates throughout the winter up north, the sapsuckers are so dependent on sap that when the trees freeze up and sap becomes inaccessible, the sapsuckers have to leave. They will then fly all the way to the Caribbean and Central America for the non-breeding season.

They’re sometimes called Morse Code birds because they have a very rhythmic tapping drum instead of a rolling drum like most other woodpeckers. It makes them very easy to pick out in the a forest.