Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) on pecan (Carya illinoinensis) tree in Norman, Oklahoma, United States on January 25, 2025
Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2025Jan31_birds_and_cats/2025jan25_woodpecker_IMG_2666c.html
Some Disappointment Here
This is a juvenile yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius), I came up on the bird during my morning walk with Ben and Charlie. I should have been able to get a better image, but c'est la vie. I approached the tree, trying to get an angle on the woodpecker, but the darn bird kept moving the opposite side of the tree. Most of the photos that I did get were the back of the bird, The woodpecker blends quite well with the tree.
"On a walk through the forest you might spot rows of shallow holes in tree bark. In the East, this is the work of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, an enterprising woodpecker that laps up the leaking sap and any trapped insects with its specialized, brush-tipped tongue." - allaboutbirds.org
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