adult male; red throat as well as crown (California, USA; 2008-03-02)


Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Sphyrapicus varius

Native Range: North America

Notes: a sapsucker mostly of eastern North America, this species plus the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Red-naped Sapsucker, and Williamson's Sapsucker constitute a related group of woodpeckers that specialize in drilling shallow tree holes from which they extract sap as an important part of their diet; each bird drills several parallel holes on a sapling and then visits the array repeatedly to collect sap; all of these sapsuckers can be told from other woodpeckers by a long white wingpatch, evident in flight or while perched.


adult male showing bold white wing stripe (California, USA; 2008-03-02)
juvenile; scaly underparts (Michigan, USA; 2006-08-22)

juvenile; brown rather than red on head (Michigan, USA; 2006-08-28)
juvenile male; turning red on head and throat (Michigan, USA; 2007-08-13)

juvenile male posing for portrait (Michigan, USA; 2007-08-13)


adult above the row of holes he has drilled (Mexico; 2011-03-16)

dorsal view showing foot structure (Michigan, USA; 2012-08-26)
juvenile with the rows of holes he has drilled (Michigan, USA; 2012-08-26)