Episode 74: Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker – Voice of the Wild

This is Brodie with Illinois Extension and I’m here with a new “voice of the wild”

A tree with A neat line of small holes spaced with a regularity and persistence normally reserved for the work of wood-boring insects; has in fact, been tapped by our only fully migratory woodpecker. They drink the sap from these taps as a primary food source but they also partake of ants and any other insects that happen to be drawn to the sweet liquid. This is the yellow bellied sapsucker

While they spend their summers further north, the sapsucker can be found in the midwest in migration and winter. Though they often do have a wash of yellow on the front, the sapsucker is better identified by their red crest, long white wingpatch, their soft nasally call, and especially their unique drumming, which sounds like they had a burst of energy that quickly petered out. Here’s the yellow bellied sapsucker again

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for today’s sound. Learn more about voice of the wild at go.illinois.edu/VOW