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Like their close relatives the red-naped and red-breasted sapsuckers, the yellow-bellied sapsucker drills holes in the bark of live trees and repeatedly revisits these 'sap wells' to drink the nutrient-rich phloem fluid and the insects it attracts. The species is typically found in eastern North America but occasionally strays to the west coast. These three birds, a juvenile with poorly-defined facial stripes, an adult female, and a colorful adult male, appeared in winter on the Monterey Peninsula in central California. The male was using sap wells in a coast live oak, which seems surprising given the tannins present in oaks. A fourth species, the western Williamson's sapsucker, has a quite different appearance |
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