I was just looking out the window, wondering when — or if — the rain will ever stop. And I saw an adult red-breasted sapsucker in the cotoneaster, the one we call the bird tree because it hosts grosbeaks, warblers, tanagers, and sapsuckers, sometimes several of these at once. I quickly realized there was also a juvenile sapsucker in the tree too, sitting on a branch while the parent industriously drilled into the bark. Then I saw the young one open its beak and the parent fed it — well, what did it feed it? Bugs in sap? A simple drink of sap? I managed to take two photographs but of course missed the actual moment of the feeding. But in the second image, you can see the young bird with its beak open and waiting.
...Theresa Kishkan 