Kim has been kind enough to share some more of her observations with us this week. Take a stroll when you next visit and keep your eyes and ears open for our resident feathered friends.
Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers make their presence known at Gramercy
All summer long, clicking, water-dripping sounds have been constant along the Honeybrook stream at Gramercy. It was obviouslycoming from some type of bird, but it took several weeks to spot the elusive “drummers”. Finally, on a warm fall day this week, a family of Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers made their presence known visually. The mating pair had a prolific season, and was busy encouraging their young to feed on their own and give Mom and Dad a break.
The watery drumming of the Sapsuckers is not as frequent now that the young are self-sufficient, but with a little luck, you may spot these beauties as they forage from the herb garden to the houses along the stream.
Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers, Sphyrapicus varius, are members of the woodpecker family, Picidae. As their name implies, sapsuckers subsist mainly on tree sap, and a sure sign they’re around are the orderly rows of holes they drill into trees. They can be distinguished from other woodpeckers by a rounder head, a long white wing patch, and a red chin patch in the male. Immature birds will still have the distinct white wing patch despite their mottled brownish coloring.
So as you enjoy a walk down to the herb gardens on a glorious autumn afternoon at Gramercy, be sure to watch for the sapsuckers gliding through and up the trunks of the trees, especially the maples and Tulip poplars.
Kim Gough is a licensed massage therapist practicing at the Gramercy. She has been an avid bird watcher since childhood, and believes in birding without binoculars, simply enjoying feathered friends up close and personal on the grounds of the mansion, a place she considers one of the best unofficial bird sanctuaries in the area.