Sapsucker Winter Visitor

The yellow-bellied sapsucker has been seen wintering in the lower elevations of the Mid-Atlantic region,fond of the parks,woodlots and suburbs that are abundant there.It is always a bird of open woods,breeding from Canada and Alaska south through much of the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains,and around the Great Lakes,in boreal and transition forests.
About 21 centimeters long,or 8 and a half inches,this nearly silent woodpecker has mottled black and white plumage with dull yellow on its belly and a splash of red on the crown and throat-females are red only on the throat.It is known for the neat rows of holes it drills in tree bark,from which it drinks sap with its tongue and eats insects caught in the sap.
A woodsman may be busily working in the forest,only to catch a pleasant glimpse of this attractive northern creature,which seems to calmly accept humans who are performing legitimate tasks.The sapsucker expects people to be working around its home.Since it favors working forests and their scattered clearings,it doesn't have a problem with the woodland laborer.

Bizarre Weather Continues

The Mid-Atlantic region continues on its bizarre course through the weather world,with temperatures being some 30 degrees F higher than normal.It seems to be nature's reaction to the boreal forest winter the region experienced,a balancing of weather accounts that must itself be balanced by perhaps a cool July.Bushes that were crushed by piles of snow are now being scorched by the waves of weird heat.People are trying hard not to put the air conditioner on so early,but many haven't succeeded in resisting the need for comfort.