Evening star., 1947-01-02
This and That
By Charles E. Tr1ceDell
ARLINGTON, Va.

Dear Sir:
"We're chirruping happy holiday
greetings to you. Certainly the Joy we
get from your column calls for an ex-
preston of thanks.
Fright now our window sill feeding
trays are busy and colorful with num-
bers of bluebirds and purple finches,
glorious combination, especially as the
sunlight glints across the tray.
"A lone myrtle warbler visits us and
spends long minutes at the suet. chal-
longing even the downy woodpeckers to
run him off.
Another recent addition to our bird
visitors is yellow-bellied sapsucker who
spends hours on a large evergreen tree
outside bedroom window
"His red head patch in the sunlight
seems more the tone of the purple finch,
but deeper. Not at all the red of the
male downy, cardinal. or tanager. He's
certainly boring his holes as regular as
corn on the cob.'
"It's big tree, so it may weather his
depredations, and in the meantime we
are enjoying his modus operandi.
Sincerely, D. H. s."
y II
Lie yellOW-pClllCu SdpouChCL ID IlOL
exactly a desirable guest in the home
garden.
If one can accept him, however, in the
spirit of this correspondent, it is good
thing from the standpoint Of bird watch
ing.
From the viewpoint of the garden, not
so good, for this species sometimes de-
stroys a tree he works on.
He does this by making rows OF holes.
so that the punctures run together, max
ing squares at least half an inch across.
When these cut areas run together
and exceed that of the good bark, the
tree may die.
There has been great deal of dispute
about this sapsucker and whether he
really kills trees. Even the experts dis
agree, but the majority opinion is that
this bird should not be welcomed too
heartily.
We had one operate one February on
maple tree.
Sap ran down the trunk for days, even
weeks but that was five years ago, and
the tree today seems as healthy as ever.
Attacks usually come at migrating
time.
The bird makes a squealing sort of
noise, while it drives away from the
chosen tree all other birds. especially
yellow-bellied sapsuckers.
It Is too bad that the little harmless
downy woodpecker is sometimes blamed
by poor observers for the damage done
by the sapsucker.
The downy is too small to be able to
do any real damage. The holes he may
drill are not deep enough to reach sap.
Yet many persons, watching him,
swear he is hurting their trees. They
even say that "sapsucker" has been at
work.
Waitsuntil the real thing appears, the
genuine yellow -bellied fellow, and then
they may see what this particular MEM
ber of the woodpecker family can do
when he gets started.
The yellow -bellied sapsucker Is one of
the birds that sometimes becomes drunk
on fermented sap.
Then he makes more noise than usual,
and indulges in plain and fancy flying.
+ He is not large bird, being but 8ia
inches long.
Though his diet, on the whole is good,
from mans standpoint. ornithologists
feel that the damage he inflicts on trees
by eating sap and cambitm is serious,
and els often so extensive that it can
not be balanced by the good the bird
does In other directions"
We believe, therefore, that while he
may be watched with interest for q
short time, it is best to drive him away
from any favorite tree in the home
gagden.