[tn-bird] YB Sapsucker
- From: Rikki Hall <rikki@xxxxxxx>
- To: Discussion list for Tennessee Birding <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 12:25:30 -0500 (EST)
I've been privileged recently to have a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker spending
a lot of time on the elm tree just a few feet from my upstairs window.
He is either molting or about to molt, as his appearance is very ratty,
unlike the White-throated Sparrows, which are now bright and beautiful.
The red throat patch is speckly, and even the white stripe on either wing
is indistinct. Perhaps he is a first-year bird.
He is often kind enough to alert me to his presence with a call or two,
and I have been able to watch him drink sap from the holes he has drilled
in the trunk and also make new holes, tossing aside tiny flecks of wood as
he dislodges them.
Elms are the first native tree to flower, and I'm reasonably certain that
the sap is flowing in this tree. This has lead me to wonder how well
their northward migration is synchronized with sap flows and whether these
birds may serve as signals to maple syrup producers that their trees are
ready to tap.
Rikki Hall
Knoxville, TN 37917
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