All the way
from Mexico.
The yellow bellied
sap sucker.
His beak hammers
six times a second,
wounding the tree deeply
and chiseling into the vessels carrying
the precious sugar.
His feathery tongue quickly
laps up the weeping liquid
on this tree.
Last year he dug hundreds of holes.
But now all the wells are dry.
It’s not enough
to deter a determined sap sucker.
He can dig as many as 1000 holes
in a season.
And on another tree, he’s
excavating a nest.
If he finishes it and keeps his wells
running sweetly,
he could attract the
attention of a female.
But there’s another bird
that could ruin his plans.
A ruby throated
hummingbird.
He’s followed the sap sucker
all the way from Mexico.
His wings
beat 80 times a second,
putting him on a calorific knife edge.
The weeping sap
is the best source of sugar
currently available
and feeding at 15 sips a second,
he can quickly drain a well dry.
He’s too fast
for the sap sucker to chase off.
So the sap sucker opens
more and more wells.
Eventually,
despite the interruption,
he finishes off his nest,
creating a deep hollow in the tree.
Now everything is prepared
