ML646004035

Observation details

Juvenile with messy back pattern, red on the crown, white throat with black border, and pale yellow belly. It was on a tree trunk, about 20 feet up, in thick branches, so I watched it through binoculars to ascertain the ID while I waited for it to move into an open spot to get a clear shot. I had not moved from the same spot, waiting for it to wind its way back around to my side, when it went up the trunk another 5 feet, wound around to the back, then suddenly flew away, out of the cemetery, into a big pine behind the house that is tan on the front and yellow on the side, facing the cemetery. I watched it land in that tree but did not want to binocular into someone's backyard ... It took me a while to switch from bins to camera and then to focus on it so I just have this flight shot. I would be shocked if this wasn't the same YBSA that has been continuing since early November, so I expect it will be back in the cemetery this afternoon. I was on the corner of the cemetery's B Street and 5th Street when I watched it fly. Thanks to Jeff C. for relocating the sapsucker this morning. My hero today! :)