Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

LC - Least Concern

N5B, N5N - Secure Breeding and Nonbreeding

SNRB - Unranked Breeding

not listed

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker medium-sized woodpecker has a name likely to elicit a smile or a raised eyebrow. It is 7″ to 9″ long, weighs 1½ oz. to 2 oz., and has a 13″ to 16″ wingspan.

The back is black with extensive narrow white barring. The belly is yellowish. The flanks are yellowish to white with narrow faded barring. The breast is black. The rump is white. The wings are black with narrow white bars and a large white patch that is conspicuous during flight. The tail is mostly black.

The head is mostly black and white and boldly striped. The crown is bright red. On the male the chin is bright red. On the female it is white.

7″ to 9″ in length

16″ wingspan

A repeated, scratchy, nasal, cat-like me-ew.

The drumming is a loud roll quickly slowing to rapid but clearly separated taps and finished by 3 or 4 well-spaced taps at the end.

Long, horizontal, more or less straight lines of small, closely-spaced holes in the trunk of a tree are a sure sign of this bird.

Young, deciduous and mixed forests, especially dry, second-growth woodlands

Late March to late October

In late April and May the male and female excavate a nest hole in a live poplar or birch tree 6½′ to 65′ above the ground. They will often choose a dead limb or a trunk with decayed heartwood. Excavation takes from 2 to 3 weeks. The finished nest will be up to 10″ deep with an entrance hole only 1½″ in diameter. The nest is not lined.

The female lays 4 to 7 eggs on wood chips left over from the excavation. 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.

Tree sap and small insects attracted to the sap filling the holes made by the bird. Also hammers for insects and catches insects on the wing.

Common migrant and breeder

The Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union All Seasons Species Occurrence Map

Sign

Share your video of this bird.

Location: Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge

A male Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, the only Minnesota woodpecker with a red chin patch.

Location: Adams health Care Center

Location: 5 miles south of hibbing on bunker road

feeding on suet in yard have also been seeing a red bellied woodpecker yesterday feeding on suet.  The downy and hairy woodpeckers commonly feed here

Location: Pennington Co MN

Here is a closer look at the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.   Such a good looking fellow.

Location: Pennington Co.