PHOTO BY GARRY BRANDENBURG A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker woodpecker rests after dutifully feeding on suet at a bird feeding station. The air temperature the day of this image was cold, a plus 10F, which explains why the bird had all its body feathers fluffed up to a maximum to retain body heat. The yellow-bellied is the only woodpecker of eastern North America that is completely migratory. Although a few individuals remain throughout much of the winter in the southern part of its breeding range, most head south, going as far as Panama. Females go further south than males.

YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER WOODPECKER (Sphyrapicus varius) is the featured creature of the day today. You may see one or several at your bird feeding station or none at all. If you do, consider yourself fortunate that this bird is even around for you to inspect. Most of its buddies are in places much warmer than Iowa. However, this male has decided to overwinter here in central Iowa. So be it. He is welcome to stay.

A male yellow-bellied has a red patch of feathers on its throat in addition to a red top of head. Females throat patch is white. Bold black and white alternating stripes adorn it head. A black and while speckled arrangement covers its back. A large all white wing patch is evident when perched and even more pronounced while in flight. This woodpecker also displays the typical two toes forward and two toes backward facing as its sharp toenails grip into tree bark to maintain its position.

Yellow-bellied sapsuckers like young forests and edge habitat where young trees may be more common. This species is well known for its sapwell line of holes drilled into tree bark in horizontal lines. Sap emerging from these openings is what the bird will eat. There is a difference however in the holes they make. Initial holes in a tree’s bark are deep to find the sap flowing up the tree’s xylem layer. After leaf out in the spring, shallower rectangular holes find sap moving down the tree from the leaves. This sap may be 10 percent sugar. Freshly drilled holes are needed to keep sap sources flowing and eatable by the bird. Insects attracted to sapwells are fair game. Catching flying insects will work also. On the ground the bird will find ants to lap up with its rough tongue.

Nests will be made into dead trees or trees infected with fungus that cause the heartwood to decay. A nest cavity may be used for up to seven years. Males chip out the wood to make a nest cavity and it may take him three weeks to finish the task. Eggs of the female are laid on wood chips left behind as no new nest lining is added. A finished nest cavity may be ten inches deep with an entrance hole about 1.5 inches in diameter. Four to six eggs are laid, each about one inch long and .75 inches wide. It takes 10 to 13 days for incubation. Young stay in the nest for 25 to 30 days. Breeding range tends to be the northern states of the east and Midwest, southern Canada and all the boreal forests of Canada toward southeast Alaska.

Look for other woodpecker species this winter including the Red-headed, Red-bellied, Northern flicker, Hairy and Downy and the biggest of all, the Pileated. Have fun and enjoy the winter season watching winter birds.

BALD EAGLE NESTS are easy to spot at this time of year since the trees they may be in are devoid of leaves. And some of these nests are in territories any resident pair of eagles are protecting now for a nesting season soon to begin. New branches and twigs will be added to suit the pair. And when the time is right, its bowl shaped inner portion will be lined with fine grasses as good insulators to assist in keeping eggs warm.

How many eagle nests are known in Marshall County? I think the list is about 12 but there could be more in some remote and heavily forested river timber areas. We currently have several resident eagles and more incidental temporary visitors for the winter months ahead. Look for them just about anywhere you may be traveling. And do keep a sharp eye out for big blobs of sticks high up in tree tops.

JOHN GARWOOD, the late author of outdoors related news for the Times-Republican from the 1950s until the early 1990s, wrote a splendid piece about Christmas on the Iowa or sometimes he called it the First Christmas on the Iowa.

Using word imagery, John painted a picture of tranquil peace in a fresh fallen snow in the Iowa River Valley. Animals of all kinds made his list of critters drawn to a mysterious big bright star in the eastern sky. And a hunter, a native Indian with bow and arrow, seeing the tracks in the snow, followed the signs to where the animals were all gathered. He let down his bow and did not shoot, also spell bound by the bright star of eastern origin.

As you re read Garwood’s words, let your imagination fill in the blanks on this mental canvas painted before you. Feel free to add nuthatches, cardinals, bluejays, juncos and any other feathery or furry critter. All of it will be well positioned in your mind as a clear star filled dark sky over a snow covered landscape comes to life.

Garwood’s list of critters is mostly realistic but a few are animals not native to central Iowa. He noted Snowy Owls, muskrats, rabbit, fox, deer, wolves, white weasels, mink, beaver, otter, skunk, bison, prairie chicken, wild turkey, quail, hawks, geese, raccoon, opossum, badger and lynx.

What we know today about the common species and sometimes winter visiting wildlife, I’ll substitute coyotes for true wolves. Iowa still has prairie chickens in southwest portions of the state. We could add in the ringneck pheasant, a successful non-native game bird from Asia, that over the decades has become a mainstay for upland grassy fields. Hungarian or gray partridge could be slipped into the list. The lynx is a true north land predator best suited to hunt arctic hares, voles and small rodents. However, Iowa is and does have an expanding population of bobcats, a cousin to the lynx. Snowy owls make periodic appearances in Iowa but only if heavy snows far the north make hunting too much work. We may get an temporary “invasion” of snowys, short-eared and long-eared owls to check out the landscape for rodents when brutal winter weather in Canada drives them toward us as they seek relief and a bit warmer winter weather.

PHOTO CONTEST ENTRIES are due before noon on Jan. 31, 2020 for the annual Marshall County Conservation Board contest. This annual event draws many excellent images of people, natural scenes, native plants, wildlife or conservation themes. There is sure to be a category to fit your best images. Rules and information can be obtained by calling the MCCB office work days at 641-752-5490.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you for helping to make 2019 another very good year to be Outdoors Today. May that effort continue into 2020.

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Garry Brandenburg is a graduate of Iowa State University with BS degree in Fish & Wildlife Biology. He is the retired director of the Marshall County Conservation Board. Contact him at PO Box 96, Albion, IA 50005.