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The map and article below provide a historical perspective of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in one area of the Cherokee National Forest (south).

Appalachian Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (Sphyrapicus varius) of the Tellico District, Cherokee National Forest with a 1996 nesting record

Nathan Klaus, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Nongame-Endangered Wildlife Program, 116 Rum Creek Drive, Forsyth, GA 31029 naklaus@mindspring.com
David Buehler, University of Tennessee, Department of Forestry Wildlife and Fisheries, PO Box 1071, Knoxville, TN 37901

    Though questioned in recent years, some authorities believe there are three subspecies of Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (YBSA), Sphyrapicus varius, in the eastern United states: S. v. varius which breeds from Pennsylvania north and west through Canada, S. v. atrothorax which breeds from Pennsylvania south in the Appalachians to Virginia, and S. v. appalachiensis, a disjunct subspecies restricted to the high elevations of the southern Appalachians (Ganier 1954, but see Short 1982 and Winkler 1995).  Yellow-bellied sapsuckers of the possible subspecies appalachiensis are smaller and darker and are generally thought to be rare throughout their breeding range (Ganier 1954, Stupka 1963, Nicholson 1997).  Whether a subspecies or not any sightings of this small population are significant.  It is of high conservation priority, given its rarity, restricted range, and population declines (Nicholson 1997).  In this paper I detail several sightings of Appalachian yellow-bellied sapsuckers in the Tellico District of the Cherokee National Forest.
    Between late April and early July from 1995-1998 I conducted between 80 and 213 point counts annually on the Tellico (Monroe County), Hiwassee (Monroe and Polk Counties), and Oconee (Polk County) districts of the Cherokee National Forest (CNF) (Klaus and Buehler unpub. data).  During this time I encountered YBSA a total of 5 times, only once during a point count.  No sapsuckers were ever detected in the Hiwassee or Ocoee districts.  Counts surveyed all habitats in the CNF and covered much of the forest.  Counts were randomly located throughout the study area and were stratified by forest type and stand age through the entire range of elevation in my study area (231-1530m).  Remarkably, given the extent of the surveys and the time spent working in the vicinity of a population of YBSA, I saw and/or heard this species on only two days in four years. 
   The first encounter was on 18 June, 1995.  After detecting vocalizations of young birds (begging calls), I followed the activity to a tree with an active YBSA nest.  Both parents appeared during the 30 min I observed the nest though neither called or drummed.  The chicks were quite vocal, even when the parents were away.   Based on vocalizations, I estimated there were at least three young in the nest cavity.  The nest was constructed in a red maple (Acer rubrum) snag with a diameter breast height of 28 cm (11 inches).  The nest entrance was located on the north side of the tree, approximately 9 m (30 ft) above the ground.   The nest tree was on a ridge running north/south, very near a sudden drop in the ridge’s elevation to the south.  The forest types in the immediate vicinity were a transition between hemlock, northern hardwoods, and xeric oak/hickory.  Tree species immediately around the nest were predominantly chestnut oak (Quercus prinus) and red maple, with a few eastern hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis).  A rhododendron (Rhododendron catawbiense) thicket began downslope to the west while the understory was fairly open to the east, the direction the birds foraged.  The ground was covered with blueberry (Vaccinium vacillans) immediately around the nest.  A 12-yr old clearcut approximately 32 ha (80 acres) in size began 12 m (40 ft) to the northwest, and was visible from the nest cavity entrance.  No other sapsuckers were detected that year, though work continued in the area through July.   The nest site was visited again in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 2003 by myself, in 1999 by Jason Osborne, and every year between 1998 and 2004 by various other point counters and no YBSA nest has been relocated, though in 1999 Jason Osborne located fresh sap wells in the area, and in 1997 I heard a YBSA drumming nearby at Beech Gap.
   No sapsuckers were detected while working daily in the Cherokee National Forest from late April to July in 1996 and 1998.  My other detections were all on 17 May 1997.  The weather was clear and warm that day with high temperatures around 18º C (65º F).  That morning between 09:00 and 13:00 four birds were heard drumming and counter-drumming across three ridges (Rough Ridge, Whigg Ridge, and near Beech Gap).   Two were seen, while the locations of the remaining two were estimated based on sound (Table 1).  At least two of these drumming sites were located within 15m (50 ft) of a recent clearcut.  Drumming continued for nearly three hours, and could be heard for several miles.  The birds were not heard or seen again after this day though work continued in the area for another four months.  No nests associated with these observations were found.  Two of these locations were very close to previous observations, one near Beech Gap and a second near a 1995 observation by John Bartlett (Bartlett and Buehler unpubl. data).

Table 1.  Location, date, and elevation of all YBSA detected, 1996-1999, Tellico District, Cherokee National Forest.

    From 15-18 June, 2003 we surveyed these sites in an effort to relocate this population.  In addition most of the high elevation ridges (>1,066 m/3,500ft elevation) of the Tellico district were surveyed for sapsuckers, including all historic sites.  Surveys followed a protocol developed by John Gerwin, North Carolina Museum of Natural History, and were part of a larger survey effort for this species through the Southern Appalachians.  This survey effort used playback tapes of YBSA drumming and vocalization as part of this survey to increase detection rates.  Frequent rains precluded a thorough search of the area, however 16 survey points covering 26 km (16 miles) of ridge were conducted.  No YBSA were detected, and no fresh sapwells were found.  It is possible that June was too late to survey for this species.
    Several Appalachian yellow-bellied sapsuckers and at least two nests have been located in the immediate vicinity of my detections.  Nearly sixty years earlier Ganier and Clebsch found birds at John’s Knob and Stratton Meadows, both within 3km (2 miles) of two of my locations.  In addition they found a bird at Beech Gap, where I had a bird in 1999 and less than 400 m (¼ mile) from my nest site (Ganier and Clebsch 1944, Ganier and Clebsch 1946).  Later sightings in this area date from 1973 at Whigg Meadow (Hixon 1996), 1974 at Stratton Meadows (Eller 1974), 1989 and 1991 in 4 locations in general area of Stratton Meadows (Nicholson 1997).  Including our record from 1995 there are three published nesting records for this area (Ganier and Clebsch 1944, Hixon 1996) as well as a 1991 sighting of fledglings (Nicholson 1996).  Given the apparent rarity of this species in East Tennessee (only three other published sightings for this species in Tennessee) this small area on the Tellico district may be remarkable, suggesting that this species may have extraordinary site fidelity or very specific habitat needs which limit their distribution.  Regardless of the cause, the area between Beech Gap, Stratton Meadows, and Rough Ridge appears to be an important area for this species accounting for >90% of the published records.
   Because of their low detectability, it may be that many more individuals are present in the Southern Appalachians.  It is also possible that they are present in many areas where none have been detected.  For example, systematic surveys in North Georgia in 2002 detected a breeding pair in Rabun County, the second breeding pair ever found in Georgia (Klaus unpubl. data).  More systematic survey work needs to be conducted for this species to determine its conservation status and track population changes.  Current survey methods (Breeding Bird Survey, point counts) do not adequately survey this rare species because of its low detectability, rarity on the landscape and because it is vocal during a relatively brief period in early spring before most bird surveys are conducted. 

Literature Cited

Eller, 
G.D.  1974. Eastern Mountain Region, 
Pages 103-104 in Alsop, F.J. (ed.) The Season.  
Migrant 45:100-104. Ganier, A. F. and A. Clebsch. 
1944. Summer Birds of the Unicoi 
Mountains. 
Migrant 15(4) 61-65. Ganier, A. F. and A. Clebsch. 
1946. Breeding Birds of the Unicoi 
Mountains. Migrant 17(4) 53-59. Ganier, 
A. F. 1954. A new race of the yellow-bellied sapsucker. Migrant 25(3) 38-41. Nicholson, 
C. P. 1997. 
Atlas of the breeding bird of Tennessee. 
The University of Tennessee 
Press, Knoxville, 
TN. 426pp.  Hixon, 
F. D.  1996.  
Nesting by the yellow-bellied sapsucker in Monroe 
County, 
Tennessee.  
Migrant 67(2) 28. Short, Lester. 1982 
Woodpeckers of the World. Delaware 
Mus. Nat. Hist., Monogr. Ser.4. Stupka, 
A. 1963. 
Notes on the Birds of Great 
Smoky 
Mountain 
National Park. University 
of Tennessee 
Press, Knoxville, 
TN, 242 pp. Winkler, Hans, D. A. Christie, and D. Nurney. 
1995. Woodpeckers: an identification guide to the woodpeckers of the world. 
Houghton Mifflin, Boston MA. 
406pp.