Sapsucker

Sapsucker, bird of the woodpecker family. Sapsuckers drill neat rows of holes in the bark of trees and lick up the sap that oozes out, but their main food is insects, which they catch in the air or on trees. The 3 North American sapsuckers are the widely distributed yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius), and the red-breasted (S. ruber) and Williamson's sapsucker (S. thyroideus) of the Western and Pacific states.