While working at home this afternoon, I watched an adult female sapsucker
feed on sap from the big red maple next to our patio...she has literally
been in the same spot for 3.5 hours now!  I watched her from a distance of
about 16 feet...no binoculars needed!  The tree has a distinct wet spot
beneath where she has been perched, which I've not noticed on this tree
before - and I think it may be from sap bleeding from the holes she
tapped.  I've seen it fly away about four or five times, but she always
returned to the same spot within a minute or two at most.  Interestingly,
it usually opts to stay when all the other feeder-birds decide its time to
flee (enmass) from whatever the latest perceived threat is (which happens
fairly constantly all day, every day).  I don't have much experience
watching sapsuckers, but if she keeps this steady slurping up, she won't be
able to fly very far!

I wonder if she is trying to fatten up for a northern flight soon?  I know
woodpeckers in general mate and nest early - relative to many other birds,
so I would expect that migratory ones especially need to fatten up now to
make their north bound flights.  But I wonder how much nutritional value
there is in maple sap?  Do they prefer certain tree species based on
carbohydrate differences in the sap?  Hmmm.  She is still there, slurping
away.

Jeff Shenot
Croom MD