Unlike most woodpeckers, the eastern Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius varius) feeds on sap, adult insects, and fruit. The extent and manner in which it utilizes the phloem sap and living phloem tissue of woody plants for food has been widely disputed despite evident morphological adaptations to sap-feeding. Field studies conducted to determine the foods and foraging behavior of this sapsucker showed it used five types of food tap holes to extract sap and phloem tissue from living trees: vertical columns of holes for sap (1) or bast (2), horizontal bands of holes for sap (3) or bast (4), and spiral groups of holes (5). They use bands of holes in early spring to obtain bast and some sap from conifers. As spring progresses, sapsuckers drill bands of holes in angiosperms on warm, cloudy days to obtain the copious and dilute sap. On sunny days, they drill spiral groups of holes in tips of aspen branches for the sap. During midsummer, they create extensive vertical columns of holes in birches for sap. In the fall they drill many horizontal rows of holes in maples to obtain bast.