We love our birds, but some of them can test our patience. One of those that can test our ability to live and let live is the yellow-bellied sapsucker. Yes, that it’s real name. If you see one, you probably considered it to be a woodpecker. It’s not, but it’s a close relative.

Sapsuckers are a migratory bird as they leave their summer homes in September or October to head toward the Southern United States, Mexico or even Central American and the West Indies. These migrations happen mostly during the night. When they return north in the spring, the males like to entice females by lifting up their bill to show of the brightly colored feathers on their throat.

Sapsuckers tend to build their nests in a cavity on a tree such as an aspen, poplar, or birch. Interestingly, they like to return to the same tree each year, but they tend not to use the same nest.

Females will deliver 5 or 6 eggs and the responsibility for incubating the eggs is shared between the male and the female. When the young birds are ready to leave the nest, their parents teach them how to feed on tree sap.

On the upside, sapsuckers eat insects such as ants while also eating fruits and berries. But their most annoying quality (and we all have them) is the result of that pecking sound we hear coming from the trees. Sapsuckers use their beaks to “drill” holes in the bark of a tree, usually about 1/4 of an inch in diameter. If you see these holes, you should be impressed with their layout. The holes are typically fairly evenly spaced in rows with a hundred small holes. It’s pretty impressive.

They dig these holes deep enough into the bark to reach the layer of the tree bark called phloem. The phloem is the vascular tissues of the tree that transports sugar created by the leaves down to the roots of the tree. As the sugars move down the tree toward the roots these holes interrupt that flow and the holes fill up with sap. Then, as you probably guessed, the sapsucker returns again and again to dine on this sap. Since a variety of insects also like to eat this sap, the sapsucker then gets to dine on them as well.

This damage typically doesn’t do enough harm to damage the tree, but over time, if the sapsucker holes fully encircle the tree bark, it is going to suffer. In some instances, it may end up killing the tree.

Sapsuckers are not that picky about which trees they will feed on but seem to prefer hollies, apples, elms, pines, maples, and pecans. Unfortunately, these holes make the trees more susceptible to disease.

If you would like to do something to discourage sapsucker feeding on your trees, you can wrap hardware cloth or burlap around the trunks of the tree, but for the most part, try to just enjoy the precision of their feeding process and the beauty of the birds. Good luck.

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org. Photo - Steven Katovich, Bugwood.org