Titmice on Suet Feeder

Titmice on suet feeder.
(Photo by Jo.)

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Titmice on Suet Feeder

Nature Notes: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius)

Identification:  A medium-sized woodpecker, white strip running up its side and "messy" black and white barring on its back.  The throat and crown are completely red on a male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker while the female throat is white.  Both have a pale yellow underside.  (These are not very good ID photos.  Cornell Labs has much better.)




Range:  The Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker is the only woodpecker in eastern North America that is completely migratory.  Females tend to migrate farther south than males, often traveling as far south as Panama.  Here in the Ozarks, we are in the bird's winter range.

Food:  A sapsucker eats fruit and forages in tree bark for insects, but is most noted for consuming tree sap.  It bores distinctive rows of holes in tree trunks and limbs.  From these holes, it laps (not sucks) sap with its brush-like tongue.  In the summer, a sapsucker feeds on the “phloem” sap, the sticky fluid that carries the nutrients produced in the leaves downward to other parts of the tree.  This sap is much thicker and contains more nutrients than the “xylem” sap tapped by humans in the spring for making syrup.  Researchers speculate that a sapsucker's saliva contains some kind of anticoagulant that inhibits the tree from sealing over the holes and stopping the sap flow.  A sapsucker will often choose to tap a wounded or weakened tree.  The sap of these trees may contain more amino acids and proteins.  Many other birds and other critters partake of the sap flows created by sapsuckers. (The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center has much more information on Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers.)

Photo by Cephas via Wikipedia.

The White Birch above shows the distinctive rows of holes bored by a sapsucker.

The Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers overwintering here readily eat from our suet feeder.

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Nature Notes: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius)

Downy Woodpecker - Female (Picoides pubescens)

At around 6 3/4" (17cm) long, the Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) is the smallest of North America's classic-shaped woodpeckers.  It is found throughout almost all of North America in a variety of habitats.  The Downy is the woodpecker most likely to visit backyard feeders.  It is by far the most common woodpecker at our feeders here in the Arkansas Ozarks.


The Downy Woodpecker looks very similar to the Hairy Woodpecker, but the Hairy is larger -- around 9 1/4" (24cm) long.  The Hairy also has a proportionally larger bill, (usually almost equal to the depth of the head).  Finally, the outer tail feathers of the Downy usually have faint dark bars or spots while those on a Hairy are pure white.

 A male Downy Woodpecker has a red patch on the back of its head.  A juvenile has a red cap.

The Downy Woodpecker sharing our suet feeder with another "D" bird, a Dark-eyed Junco.

The Downy Woodpecker partaking of the pseudo-suet mixture of peanut butter, cornmeal and lard we provide.

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Downy Woodpecker - Female (Picoides pubescens)

White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)

Recovering from striking a window.  Flew away soon after this photo was taken.

The White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) is a common species.  At one time or another during the year, it is found throughout most of North America.  It over-winters here in the Arkansas Ozarks.  White-throateds are the only sparrow among our yard birds during the winter.

Habitat:  Cornell Labs says, Look for White-throated Sparrows in woods, at forest edges, in the regrowth that follows logging or forest fires, at pond and bog edges, and in copses near treeline. In winter you can find these birds in thickets, overgrown fields, parks, and woodsy suburbs. They readily come to backyards for birdseed.  We have several weedy, waste spaces at the edge of our yard.  During the fall and early winter, flocks of White-throateds forage in these dried weeds.  As winter wears on, we see more of these sparrows under our tube bird feeders and in our tray feeder.  While primarily ground feeders, these sparrows also partake of the pseudo-suet (cornmeal, peanut butter and lard) mixture we offer.

White-throated Sparrow scratching through the debris in our tray feeder.

According to the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center these common birds exhibit a characteristic that is rare in birds, they show genetically-based plumage polymorphism. In other words, these sparrows come in two different color forms, or morphs.

During the breeding season, the morphs are most easily distinguished by the colors of their crown stripes. The "white-stripe" morph typically has distinctly contrasting black and white crown stripes and bright yellow lores (the area between the eyes and the base of the bill), while the "tan-stripe" morph has duller black (or dark brown) and tan (or pale brown) stripes and less vivid lores.

...both male and female white-throated sparrows exhibit this polymorphism. Moreover, an individual almost always pairs with another of the opposite color morph for breeding. And despite the fact that images of the white-striped morph are more frequently presented to illustrate the species, the two color morphs actually occur in relatively equal numbers in the population. Most interesting is that behavior differs between color morphs, especially during the breeding season. Both male and female white-stripe birds are more aggressive than tan-stripe birds. In fact, white-striped females will even sing and contribute to territorial defense, whereas tan-striped females do not. In contrast, tan-striped birds of both sexes provide more care to their young than white-striped birds do.

Since the White-throated sparrows I've photographed are in their winter plumage when it's more difficult to distinguish morphs, I'm not really sure if they are white or tan stripe.  Perhaps my more experienced birder readers can make that determination.

White-throated Sparrow diving into our suet feeder.

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White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)