Saturday, April 15, 2006

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker


I took this picture this afternoon in my back yard. Thanks to Terry Crabe, a birding friend of mine, I learned that Yellow bellied Sapsuckers don't initially have a yellow belly. They acquire it from the tree sap. They drill a neat row of holes in a tree, then come back later to eat the insects that are attracted to the sap. In the process of doing this, they quite often get sap stains on their belly. Therefore, it isn't their natural colour, but an acquired colour from the sap.

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