I have just been asked about image rights for a Yellow-bellied sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius featured in BIRDS OF ABACO so I have gone back to the archive. The photograph below was taken by Gerlinde Taurer, a significant contributor to the book. On Abaco the sapsucker is the only migratory woodpecker species, a fairly common winter resident. The two other woodpecker species – West Indian and Hairy – are year-round residents. Like its woodpecker cousins, the sapsucker drills holes in trees. The dual purpose is to release the sap (which it eats); and so to attract insects (which it also eats). A two-course meal, if you like. They’ll also eat insects on an undrilled tree, and even ‘hawk’ for them in flight. They sensibly balance their diet with fruit and berries. This is without doubt the best image of a YBS I have come across.

Credit: Gerlinde Taurer for Birds of Abaco