Not unlike humans, birds have evolved various strategies to make a living. Some are fishermen, others hunters; some travel thousands of miles within a year to survive, others work from home. Some forage widely across the landscape, others have more focused feeding habits. One small group of birds with behavior that falls in the specialized category consists of sapsuckers. They are the well diggers of the bird world.
Four species of sapsuckers are found in the U.S., but only one type of these small woodpeckers visit Louisiana. The yellow-bellied sapsucker spends the winter with us but departs in early spring to breed in northern states and Canada.