This is a good resource. Answers a lot of your questions. I learned a lot! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-bellied_sapsucker
> On July 17, 2019 at 2:13 PM Molly Miller <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I had Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers nesting in a tree on our property. Only the > male worked on the nest cavity, repeatedly bringing beaks full of "sawdust" > out as he dug. You could tell his progress by how much of him stuck out in > the process. > > Eventually the male and female brought food to the hole, and then I could > hear the nestlings begging. During this phase, the male continued to come out > periodically with his beak full of sawdust. > > Was he enlarging the nest cavity as the kids grew? Or did fecal sacs end up > inside and he grabbed them plus sawdust? Based on the noise level of their > begging, there had to be 3-5 kids in there. Did they eat all the fecal sacs? > (I may have seen the female carry out one fecal sac in all their time in the > nest.) > > Also, the adults would often gather protein (bugs) and then go to their sap > holes, before taking the food to the nestlings. I don't know if the always > did this or not. Were they "dipping" the bugs into the sap to train the kids > on the flavor, or to add nutrition or energy, or what? > > As a side note, the mom and dad looked like MSP International Airport trying > to keep up with their feeding. Depending upon where I stood to watch them, > they would fly right over my head on the way out of the nest and off to their > meal gathering. Nothing kept them from their mission. > > Thanks for any insight into this sawdust, fecal sac, and sap behavior. > > Molly Miller > Inver Grove Hts > Dakota Co > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
