#sapsuckers
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gwen4braves.bsky.social
Gwen 🌈🌺🐦📚
@gwen4braves.bsky.social
I managed to get the two Yellow- bellied Sapsuckers in focus from the video. 🤨 #Twosday #birds
Two black and white woodpeckers on a cedar tree
October 22, 2025 at 1:47 AM Everybody can reply
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darkwaterphotos.bsky.social
Photography by Douglas 🍁
@darkwaterphotos.bsky.social
"Woodpeckers of a feather flock together, but sapsuckers go solo."

#Birds 🪶 #Wildlife 🫎 #Nature 🌿 #Photography 📷 #Art 🖼️ #Photog4Hire 🤠🤙📿
The yellow-bellied sapsucker is a small woodpecker with a black-and-white barred body, a bold face pattern, and a white stripe down its folded wings. Both sexes have a red forehead, while males also have a red throat; juveniles are browner and lack the red on the head and throat. They are known for drilling rows of small holes in trees to drink the sap and eat insects.
October 15, 2025 at 9:07 PM Everybody can reply
2 reposts 40 likes
2 2 40
bbolander.bsky.social
Bo Bolander
@bbolander.bsky.social
for the love of little yellow sapsuckers, if you live in a condo with big windows put stickers on the biggest panes so birds don't go crashing into them
October 10, 2025 at 6:24 PM Everybody can reply
4 reposts 20 likes
1 4 20
azgibsonz.bsky.social
Nature Art by Gibson
@azgibsonz.bsky.social
😖I find most of the verbiage describing a Red-naped Sapsucker's belly plumage woefully inadequate...😍🕸️

👇So tell me, wordsmiths, how would YOU Alt text her. This should be fun! #WoodpeckerWednesday 🪶

📸 Sphyrapicus nuchalis female 🌿

#Woodpeckers
#LookingAtYou
#BirdLovers
#Photography
#EastCoastKin
Red-naped Sapsuckers are black and white overall with a red cap, nape, and throat. They have a long white bar on the folded wing. A black stripe through the eye is bordered by white stripes. The belly is mottled black and white, with a dingy or yellowish cast. Female Red-naped Sapsuckers, like my sweetie clinging to a Slippery Elm sapling here, have a white patch on the chin while males have entirely red chins. That's what you find on teh google. I would say her belly has a cool spiderweb pattern that radiates from her bib, and mixed in with that yellowish cast it sure looks wicked!
October 8, 2025 at 7:07 AM Everybody can reply
27 reposts 1 quotes 170 likes 1 saves
6 27 170
skwinnicki.bsky.social
SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️
@skwinnicki.bsky.social
Fall warbler migration is slowing down here (Columbus Ohio USA) but I still had 6 warbler species today.

And I do love October-- it's time for the kinglets, creepers, White-throated Sparrows, sapsuckers, and butterbutts (Yellow-rumped Warblers) now!

#birds
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a dark and intricately patterned woodpecker. The bird is black with bold white spots on the back, black and gray stripes on the head, and speckled gray belly. It is on the edge of a tree trunk. Yellow-rumped Warbler, Myrtle type. The bird is gray-brown overall, lighter off-white on the throat, belly, and tail. It is backlit among the bright green leaves.
October 8, 2025 at 5:17 PM Everybody can reply
6 reposts 1 quotes 72 likes
4 6 72
peromyscus.bsky.social
Rob from Maryland
@peromyscus.bsky.social
Morning birding: some warblers, though not everybody saw each one. We finally, accidentally, saw one of the calling Red-breasted Nuthatches, my imitation not really drawing them in. That and the two sapsuckers together were among the best birds.
October 4, 2025 at 10:39 PM Everybody can reply
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9
soozenyc.bsky.social
Soozenyc
@soozenyc.bsky.social
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers drill for sap.
The sap attract the insects.
The insects attract birds.

It’s always good to see a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

#birds
#birdwatching
#fallmigration2025
#Brklynbirds
#bklynbirdclub
#historicgreenwood
#birdcpp
October 2, 2025 at 8:52 PM Everybody can reply
3 reposts 23 likes
3 3 23
birdsbyalex.bsky.social
Alex Sauerbrunn
@birdsbyalex.bsky.social
ANOTHER INTERESTING FACT: Male and female Williamson’s Sapsuckers look so different they weren’t recognized as the same species until 1873. 🪶
October 1, 2025 at 7:54 PM Everybody can reply
3 reposts 38 likes
3 38
mfoley25.bsky.social
Margot Foley
@mfoley25.bsky.social
Today's #BirdOfTheDay is ‘Any Bird with 3 or More Colours', so here is a colorful
Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber).
@robcrank68.bsky.social
#Birds #Woodpecker
#Oregon #PNW
#Nature #Photography
a Red-breasted Sapsucker is perched on the side of a tree trunk. The bird has a distinctive red head and upper chest, with a black and white patterned back and wings, and a white patch on its wing. Its lower belly and rump are white. The tree trunk has numerous small, evenly spaced holes, which are characteristic "sap wells" drilled by sapsuckers to access sap and insects. The bird is positioned with its head slightly tilted upwards, near some of these holes, suggesting it is either feeding or about to feed on the sap or insects attracted to it. The background is soft and out-of-focus green.
September 28, 2025 at 3:28 PM Everybody can reply
5 reposts 54 likes
4 5 54
swede1952.bsky.social
@Swede1952
@swede1952.bsky.social
Glyphmaker in Bark

I don’t often see yellow-bellied sapsuckers (Sphyrapicus varius), but now and then one graces the trees. It’s a rare visit—but always worth the wait.
"Clinging vertically to a weathered tree branch, the yellow-bellied sapsucker appears mid-ritual—its claws curled with quiet resolve, its body aligned like a living compass needle. A reddish-brown cap crowns its head, a ceremonial crest that contrasts with its pale cheeks, which glow like polished bark in filtered forest light. Its plumage is a speckled mosaic of brown and white, each feather a glyph in the language of trees. The bird gazes upward, as if listening for sap’s whisper or tracing the memory of its own carved wells. The background is a soft blur of green—foliage rendered into hush—allowing the sapsucker to emerge in sharp relief, a vertical archivist inscribing its presence into the bark. The image bears the signature “© Swede’s Photographs” in the bottom left, a seal of witness to this arboreal communion. This is not merely a woodpecker—it is a glyphmaker, a bark-reader, a sovereign climber in the ministry of vertical memory." - Copilot
September 26, 2025 at 5:44 PM Everybody can reply
4 reposts 81 likes
2 4 81
snowintheair.bsky.social
☠️ Ichabod Cranium ☠️
@snowintheair.bsky.social
The birds joining me for coffee on the deck today. The crows are in a state because though not shown there is a hawk too.
A screen capture from Merlin. Showing blue jays, cardinals, northern flickers, yellow belly sapsuckers, crows and ruby-crowned kinglets.
September 20, 2025 at 1:53 PM Everybody can reply
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14
darrenirwin.bsky.social
Darren Irwin (he / him)
@darrenirwin.bsky.social
Like woodpeckers? Or population genomics? Or three-species hybridization? Or selective sweeps?

Then this is for you!

The typeset version of "Evidence for ancient selective sweeps followed by differentiation among three species of Sphyrapicus sapsuckers" is published today:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
September 8, 2025 at 6:49 PM Everybody can reply
14 reposts 29 likes 1 saves
2 14 29
davemeredith.bsky.social
Dave Meredith
@davemeredith.bsky.social
An unusual woodpecker species for #WoodpeckerWednesday, a male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at its nest entrance.

The sapsuckers get their common English name from their feeding technique of drilling wells in tree trunks and feeding on the sap that forms in the wells.

#birds #birdphotography #wildlife
September 3, 2025 at 4:50 PM Everybody can reply
4 reposts 1 quotes 110 likes
2 4 110
hiddenwilds.bsky.social
Hidden Wilds Photography
@hiddenwilds.bsky.social
My very first red-naped sapsucker. Found in Rocky Mountain National Park in July.

#coloradowildlife #birds #birdphotography #sapsuckers #woodpeckers #naturelovers #naturephotography
Red-napped sapsucker
August 27, 2025 at 2:21 PM Everybody can reply
10 reposts 1 quotes 92 likes
2 10 92
stuartkreilly.bsky.social
Stuart K “Working Man” Reilly
@stuartkreilly.bsky.social
#guitar #peavey
The official guitar amp of
“We’re the *local town* sapsuckers and we came to rock Marvin’s WateringHole off hwy 6 next to the caution light”
August 27, 2025 at 3:45 AM Everybody can reply
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matthewherron.bsky.social
Matthew Herron
@matthewherron.bsky.social
Eastern bluebirds bringing food for a nestling, Quincy Bog Natural Area, New Hampshire. Unlike the yellow-bellied sapsuckers, the bluebirds always went into the nest to feed the nestling, so I didn't get any photos of the actual feeding.
#birds #wildlifephotography
August 25, 2025 at 10:15 AM Everybody can reply
1 reposts 16 likes
1 1 16
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
Chris Fisher
@fisherspeaks.bsky.social
Sapsuckers around here #AB show us that evolution is a process not a product.
Yellow-bellied & Red-naped Sapsuckers hybridize and many birds show a blend of traits.
A hybrid sapsucker showing traits of both yellow-bellied and red-naped sapsuckers. A hybrid sapsucker showing traits of both yellow-bellied and red-naped sapsuckers.
August 23, 2025 at 4:18 PM Everybody can reply
3 reposts 30 likes
1 3 30
herebespiders11.bsky.social
sad bug w/ 1 million sads
@herebespiders11.bsky.social
Sapsuckers are my first guess, but doesn't look quite right...
November 16, 2024 at 3:19 AM Everybody can reply
jeffvandermeer.bsky.social
Jeff VanderMeer
@jeffvandermeer.bsky.social
Migrating yellow-bellied sapsuckers add to their secret code every year.
February 11, 2024 at 8:29 PM Everybody can reply
4 reposts 3 quotes 92 likes
4 4 92
bonniebluebell1.bsky.social
Shouting🐋Into the🌎window
@bonniebluebell1.bsky.social
Yellow-bellied x Red-naped Sapsuckers? We've had at least one maybe two here in San Diego Co.
December 31, 2024 at 8:42 PM Everybody can reply
1
abirdingnaturalist.bsky.social
ABirdingNaturalist
@abirdingnaturalist.bsky.social
The light was getting low yesterday evening, but I was really happy to see this Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber) in my front yard!

Sapsuckers cut small holes in tree bark. They then eat the sap that leaks out and also the insects that are attracted to the sap!
#birds #nature #science
December 19, 2024 at 10:56 PM Everybody can reply
1 reposts 21 likes
1 21
beehiles.bsky.social
Brenda Hiles
@beehiles.bsky.social
A yellow-bellied sapsucker clings to the side of a tree earlier this week at Tuckertown Reservoir in North Carolina. #birds
A yellow-bellied sapsucker hangs on the side of a tree at Tuckertown Reservoir in Rowan County, North Carolina. Sapsuckers are winter visitors to the area.
January 23, 2025 at 10:59 PM Everybody can reply
2 reposts 61 likes
2 61
r2junot.bsky.social
r2junot
@r2junot.bsky.social
Continuing male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker seen 2:35pm Wed 12/18 in Carl Schurz Park near East End Ave. The park is full of vocal sapsuckers drilling small sapwells into trees or drinking from them. This guy was enjoying some bug-filled sap while giving nearby birds the side eye. #birds
A medium-sized woodpecker clings to a tree marked by many small, round & rectangular sapwells which he or another sapsucker has drilled. His face is white (& a bit yellow) with black stripes accentuated by a red forehead (shared by males & females) & a red throat (which identifies him as male). True to his name, his belly is mostly yellow with some black & white patterning. His back is black & white w/some yellow & his visible black wing is marked by a long, white stripe. The visually activated patterning of his plumage looks symbiotically connected to the tree's chaotic patterning of sapwells & peeling bark. Where bark has fallen off, the tree is orange, revealing that it's compromised in some way. Sapsuckers love a gooey orange tree. A few bare branches show in the background which is mostly gray, setting off the tree's orange glow & the sapsucker's yellow belly & bright red accents.
December 22, 2024 at 12:46 AM Everybody can reply
2 reposts 30 likes
2 30
jhmsparky.bsky.social
Jack Maynard(he/him)
@jhmsparky.bsky.social
K and I got out with our Covid-bubble birding pal Patty N today at Vanport Wetlands in NoPo and saw a bunch of great birds, including at least 3 Red-breasted Sapsuckers in the marsh-- not their expected habitat, but birds will be birds. #birding
Red-Breasted Sapsucker gives side-eye in the wetlands
April 15, 2024 at 2:20 AM Everybody can reply
3 reposts 27 likes
3 27
gettoknownature.bsky.social
Get To Know Nature
@gettoknownature.bsky.social
Gathering of the sapsuckers! That’s so cool you got to see them both. Congratulations!
March 2, 2024 at 5:13 AM Everybody can reply
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