Location:     Elm St, Norwich
Observation date:     6/20/10
Notes:     Adult feeding babies in a nesting cavity in a large poplar tree.  Young clearly audible from within the cavity.
Number of species:     1

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker     1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/vt)

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We have yellow-bellied sapsuckers nesting in a cavity in a large poplar tree near our house on Elm St in Norwich, Vermont.  There's pretty regular feeding activity going on, so good chance of seeing the adults coming and going from the nest right now if you're interested.

Directions:

Our house is the yellow house at 230 Elm St.
Elm St. leaves Main St in Norwich, directly opposite the gazebo on the green.  We're 3/4 of a mile from the green on the right, 3rd house past Hopson Rd. on the right.

You can park in the driveway while looking at the nest, but don't wander off for a longer bird walk and leave your car blocking the driveway!

If you stand at the uphill side of our driveway and look across the road, you'll see a tall poplar tree almost directly in front of you, about 30 feet into the woods.  Bark is grayish color, and it first glance (due to the number of branches broken off and the number of woodpecker holes drilled in it) it appears the tree might be dead, but if you follow up the trunk to where it splits, you'll see that while the right side of the crown has fallen off, the left side still has leaves.

You'll hear the babies chattering incessantly.

If you look up the trunk of this tree, maybe 30 feet above the level of the road you'll see 2 snapped off branches, each about 1 foot long, one about 3-4 feet higher than the other.  The higher of these 2 points back and away to the right.  At that height on the trunk, but on the side directly facing the road, is a dark opening to the nesting cavity, maybe 2-3 inches in diameter.  If you wait around 10-15 minutes, you're pretty likely to see the adults coming and going, and popping their heads in and out of the cavity to feed the young.  Lots of enthusiastic clamor from the babies.

Don't know how long the show will last, but probably for a couple of days, anyway.

Bill Schults
Norwich, Vermont

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