Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Four of these birds arrived recently and decided that our large white pine in the front yard would be their 24/7 restaurant. Their aggressive drilling of sap wells all around the trunk about seven feet above the ground was unacceptable. Several web searches convinced me that there were no easy cures.

After some thought, I decided to add a skirt to the tree using the logic that they would not stop as long as they could see the sap wells. I used large bath towels and covered the damaged area by circling the entire tree. One bird did return and try to drill through the towel. After a few minutes of getting only strings from the towel, it left for easier pickings.

I left the skirt on the tree for about three weeks. The birds have not returned. I will probably have... read more to protect the damaged area for several years until the damage heals over.

I've been trying to identify this bird for a couple of months. We have many different woodpeckers visiting our feeders, but this one has such different coloration that it really stands out. It's a bit more skittish than the other woodpeckers, so I've been unable to get a photo, but there's no question about the pale yellow color. We live in the woods in the Eastern Catskills, and are surrounded by sugar maples, birches, and red pines, all of which I understand to be favored by the yellow-bellied sapsucker. I don't see any other postings indicating the bird's presence in New York, so I assume they're not nearly as common as all the other woodpeckers we see.

I wish it visited more often. It only comes to the yard during winter. Most typically in January of February and so far we have only gotten immature birds. Would love to see a mature bird!