What is the story behind the hole in this aspen tree? The freshly excavated hole was about 40’ above ground and emitting squeaky chirps.
This is the nest hole of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker! This male landed near the nest hole with a meal in his beak and entered the hole. After around a second, he popped his head out and then flew off. A few minutes later the sequence repeated again, and again.
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers prefer to nest in live aspens with heartwood-softening fungus. Males and females both excavate around a 10-inch deep cavity. Inside, the female lays 4-6 white eggs on a bed of wood chips. Both parents incubate the eggs and later feed the young with insects, sap, and fruit.
After around a month, the young leave the nest and their parents teach them their namesake sapsucking habit – drilling neat rows of shallow holes in tree bark. They lap up the sap and trapped insects with their brush-tipped tongue. The sweet sap attracts other wildlife as well – from yellow-rumped warblers to porcupines, bats to moths, ruby-crowned kinglets to red squirrels. Hummingbirds are especially in sync with the sapsuckers – following them from sap well to sap well and aligning their migration timing and range to match the sapsuckers. High levels of sapsucker activity increase the diversity and abundance of many forest species. Keep watch at sap holes to see who visits!
