Late this afternoon (September 10) during a light to heavy rainfall here at the backyard in Norwich village, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker occasionally moved over short distances while over 35 feet off the ground among branches of a maple tree. From time to time during that rain, the bird stayed in one place on a branch and vigorously fluttered its wings in a manner reminiscent of many song birds, such as robins or Song Sparrows, when they bathe in a bird bath. Eventually the sapsucker was displaced by a crow which flew in and landed about where the sapsucker had been perched.

Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology's authoritative Birds of the World online website currently states for the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that "Bathing rarely observed" and accordingly mentions only a single observation from Ontario by Louise de Kiriline Lawrence, who once watched a male bathing in a bird bath. 

If Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers more often bathe while in trees, this year of repeated rainfalls in the Upper Valley might provide an opportunity for observers to see more of this behavior.

George Clark
Norwich, VT 


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