sapsucker? yes

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Yellow-bellied sapsucker

And speaking of woodpeckers:

Tiffiny Hamlin emails,"We were photographing a new family of blue birds at our bird bath when I saw something move in the magnolia tree about three feet from our back door. When I turned to look this is what I saw. 


"I tried to reset my camera settings and get a picture of it but once we saw each other he only stuck around long enough for me to get two blurry shots. There have always woodpecker holes in the this tree but I have never actually seen a woodpecker in it! I think, based on the pattern of the holes, that they were made by a yellow-bellied sapsucker. Is that was this is? If so, is it odd for it to be so close to the house...and people? I always thought they were rather skittish birds."


Yep. That's a sapsucker. Rather scruffy, almost dirty looking—like Charlie Brown's friend Pigpen—although this one is probably a first year female just molting into her more snappy adult plumage she'll be sporting next spring. It's the vertical white stripe down the folded wing and overall yellowish tint that I look for. Tiffiny even managed to get a photo with a few sapsucker wells in it. 

Yellow-bellied sapsuckers are the only woodpecker in our area solely in winter and the only one interested in living trees. They are also fairly common, even near our homes, and, to my mind, less skittish than hairy woodpeckers. They also revisit their active wells, keeping them open a oozing sap. 

Thanks, Tiffiny.

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winter birds

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Pied-billed grebe

Cabin fever?

SPECIAL NOTE: Saturday, January 22, at 9 a.m.

I'll be teaching a class on the Winter Birds of Ijams—all the species that can only be found at the nature center at this time of the year.

The list includes such species as the hermit thrush, winter wren, pied-billed grebe, American coot, yellow-bellied sapsucker, white-throated sparrow, pine siskin, purple finch and those hyper, hard to ID, kinglets.

After our indoor review, we'll go outside for a walk to see what we can find. Bring binoculars if you have them, or if not, we have loaner pairs. FEE: Free for Ijams members, $10 for non-members. To sign up call Sheila at (865) 577-4717, ext. 10.

White-throated sparrow

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trickling sap

“I have seen the signs of spring. I have seen a frog swiftly sinking in a pool, or where he dimpled the surface as he leapt in. I have seen the brilliant spotted tortoises stirring at the bottom of the ditches. I have seen the clear sap trickling from the red maple.”

- From Thoreau's Journal dated February 23, 1857.

The trickle of sap has come to the valley. Recently, a maple on the Third Creek Greenway was oozing clear, watery sap from a series of sapsucker wells. As is their yellow-bellied way, the holes were drilled with a machinist's precision in a neat little row. The sap was sticky to the touch but surprisingly had little taste.

Photo: the lower row of sapsucker wells is fresh and trickling sap