What a beautiful bird! I heard a single call, wasn’t sure who made it and found this sapsucker when I went to investigate. Other than the one vocalization, this bird was quietly making its rounds between trees foraging for food. It flew between trees where it had previously made, what looks like, thousands of holes. While photographing this bird, I noticed that it would often cock its head sideways when foraging in holes that it made. I wonder why it choses to approach it this way? I loved following this bird around. I am so pleased that it was tolerant of my presence while I captured these photos. Thank you.
In The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior he says, “Sapsuckers mainly eat the inner bark of trees, lap sap that oozes from small wells that the bird drills in a tree trunk, eat invertebrates trapped in the sap produced at these ‘sapsucker wells,’ and also flycatch invertebrates.”
Peterson says its voice is similar to a Red-naped Sapsucker, “nasal mewing note, cheerrrr.” The Cornell Lab says the call is a “harsh mewing ‘waah’.” Click on the link to have a listen:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-breasted_Sapsucker/sounds
