The correct answer is the yellow-bellied sapsucker.
This small woodpecker is migratory in Northwestern Ontario but leaves its mark on many trees. In fact, the bird will keep adding to the rows of holes it drills year after year.
It makes the holes to drink the sap under the tree bark. It's favorite trees are the ones with the sweetest sap. In the Boreal Forest, that primarily means white or paper birch trees. Although they have far less sugar than do sugar maples of the forests in warmer climes, there is enough for humans to make syrup -- birch syrup. It tastes very similar to maple syrup.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds take advantage of the sapsucker's wood drilling habit by also drinking the tree sap in the spring, before there are flowers in bloom.
I have even seen sapsucker holes in the bark of jackpine trees.
Click to go back to our website:
Click to see the latest on the blog:
No comments:
Post a Comment