Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Feeders

Yellow-bellied sapsuckers live primarily off of the sap they harvest from a variety of trees as well as from the insects they find as they are drilling. The yellow-bellied sapsucker rarely visits a bird feeder but will on occasion eat from a suet feeder. View our yellow-bellied sapsucker feeders above for more detailed descriptions of our suet feeders.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Feeding

Yellow-bellied sapsuckers do exactly what their name implies, namely they suck sap. Just like their human counterparts, they enjoy the sap of maple trees and drill holes in the early spring to reach the sap’s peak flow. They drill narrow circular wells and catch the sap as it moves up into the tree’s branches in spring. The sapsucker must keep the sap flowing by drilling fresh wells, distributing these wells in perfect rows. Sapsuckers select trees with high sugar content in their sap such as paper birch, yellow, birch, sugar maple, red maple and hickory. As the season moves beyond spring the yellow-bellied sapsucker has to change the shape of his drilled wells from small and circular to more rectangular. This provides him with more area on which to get the slower moving sap. Hummingbirds profit from the yellow-bellied sapsuckers work and can often be found grazing on sap in the sapsuckers pre-drilled holes.

You won’t attract many yellow-bellied sapsuckers with traditional bird feeders but they will occasionally visit a suet feeder. Shop yellow-bellied sapsucker seed and feed above to get started on supplementing the diet of these professional drillers.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Housing

Yellow-bellied sapsuckers are cavity nesters. Bird Feeders Etc. has a perfect nesting house for your backyard sapsuckers. We offer a variety of materials from simple wood to recycled plastic. Be sure to select a nesting box deep enough to accommodate the sapsucker. Placing the nesting box in a birch or maple tree will make for a perfect neighborhood for your yellow-bellied sapsucker.