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April
29, 2009 - We heard a woodpecker happily
drumming on a metal sign across the road from
our home. Since they like to hammer on the
loudest thing in the neighborhood to announce
their territory, we took the camera to see which
woodpecker was trying to make a point. An
answering pounding came from right above us on
our electrical pole in the front yard. It was
like no other woodpecker we had ever seen. Many
pictures and a brief search showed us this was a
yellow bellied sapsucker. He may be quite
common in this area, but we have never heard him
drumming before or noticed his distinctive
pattern of even horizontal holes which he drills
in a live tree. He laps the sap and eats
the insects that the sap attracts.
An old friend of mine many
decades ago in South Jersey belonged to a touch
football team that called themselves "Yellow
Bellied Sapsuckers". Back in the 70's that
seemed pretty funny. I don't think I thought of
that until I paged through my first bird book. I
never really believed I would get to see one
this closely.
It's really fun to see new
birds in our backyard. It expands our area of
interest, and the grandkids get excited to see
and learn all about the new birds. The girls
look at the bird books and our photos and have a
great time drawing and coloring their versions.
My grandson enjoys studying bird information and
asking questions about what the Food Folks are
up to now.
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