Saturday, July 23, 2016

This Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Has Got Game!



The first thing that alerted me to the presence of YBSA at Little Pond was the crab-apple tree that was riddled with holes in its bark.  The second was the piercing tapping sound that I heard from around the other side of the house while I was photographing near the feeders.  Ah, a yellow-bellied sapsucker!  Hey, if you're a male YBSA, I couldn't think of anything much louder to drum on and announce your territory than this old basketball backboard.  I imagined the metal roof pictured in the background was just a little too slippery for him to get a hold of.  For us in Ohio, these are rare breeding birds, but they do show up with regularity in the winter.  I've even had them in our backyard bur oak and I've photographed a female at Delaware Preservation Parks' Deer Haven Preserve.

-Tom

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