Appearance: Small bird about 8-9″ long with a checkered back. They have a red forehead, crown, and chin. The chest and belly are tan to yellow and have white wing patches. The Female is similar except she has a white marking on her chin.
Diet: Berries and fruit, bast (inner bark of a tree), few insects.
Feeder food: Suet.
Habitat: They prefer densely wooded areas with living trees (most woodpeckers prefer dead trees).
Nesting: They are cavity nesters and have 1 brood per year. 5-6 eggs/brood are all white. Incubation lasts 12-13 days.
Migration: Yellow-bellied sapsuckers are migrators. Right around mid-September through October, yellow-bellied sapsuckers migrate south for the winter. Then around the April-early May timeframe, they begin their migration north in search of ideal nesting conditions.
Breeding range: Eastern Alaska, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, New England, and all Canadian provinces (except Nunavut),
Winter range: Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey.
Range Map
