Yellow-bellied Sapsucker       Last Quarter Moon

Today's photograph of a yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) was taken by Chuck Tague of the Nature Observer News during a recent Three Rivers Birding Club outing to the Pymatuning Reservoir and surrounding area. Sapsuckers commonly nest in deciduous and mixed woodlands adjacent to wetland areas. This species is named for its dull yellowish belly and the small sapwells it drills in columns or rows on tree trunks. Sapsuckers then eat the sugary sap, as well as the insects attracted to the sweet fluid. Fruits and berries are also a part of their diet. Ruby-throated hummingbirds depend on the sapwells for food on their northward migration each spring. The yellow-bellied sapsucker is a common spring and fall migrant in Pennsylvania, and it breeds in the northern-tier counties and at high elevations in the mountains. It mostly winters from the southeastern U.S. through Central America.

The yellow-bellied sapsucker is considered endangered in Ohio due to destruction of habitat in the northern part of Ohio, where it nears its southerly limit. They can be found nesting in the Upper Shenango/Pymatuning Watershed of northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio, where this photo was taken. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy is currently completing a Watershed Conservation Plan for the Shenango watershed. The Shenango is historically one of the most biologically diverse watersheds in Pennsylvania, containing numerous threatened and endangered plants and animals. For more information about the Watershed Conservation Plan, please contact the Watershed Assistance Center at (724) 459-0953, ext. 103.

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