Sap which exudes is not always eaten; frequently it is merely bait for insects which form a large percentage of the SAPSUCKER'S food. Their bills are less stout than Woodpeckers' but their brush-tip tongues enable them to collect a number of ants, or other small insects, at one lick. They make regular rounds of their traps when they settle down to housekeeping.
Western North America, from central British Columbia and southern Alberta south to California, central New Mexico and western Texas.
A tree sometimes 70 feet high. Distributed in central mountain regions of the continent.