Ashley and Crippen Photographers, Toronto|Corporate Headshots/Executive Headshots 

Nature

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius)

Like woodpeckers, sapsuckers drill holes in trees but, as well as insects, they are after the oozing sap, which they return to drink. The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is common in the forests of north in summer and migrates south to spend the winter in the southeast. In its breeding grounds, it excavates a cavity up to 45 feet above the ground in a dead tree, in which it lays 4-6 white eggs. These are incubated for just under 2 weeks, by both parent birds and the young leave the nest about 4 weeks after hatching. The adult is a delicate woodpecker with long wings. It has a black and white striped head, a red forehead, black back spotted with white, a white rump, a long white wing patch, and yellowish underparts with a black breast band. The male has a red chin and throat, that of the female is white. The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker eats insects and berries, and drinks the sap from trees.