Description:
The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) is a medium-sized woodpecker (18–22 cm in length) that breeds in Canada and the north-northeastern United States.
These birds winter in the eastern United States, West Indies and Central America.
Adult males have a red cap and red throat; females have a red cap and white throat.
Juveniles are messy brownish-gray overall.
The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker drills tiny holes in the tree bark, usually in neatly spaced rows, and then returns to them periodically to feed on the sap that oozes out, the activity from which it derives its name.
It also eats bits of cambium and other tree tissues, as well as insects that are attracted to the sap.
A juvenile. Tikal, Petén, Guatemala, 24 January 2020