Canadian sapsuckers help hummingbirds, video

This video says about itself:

Remarkable contribution to hummingbird survival made possible by sapsucker‘s feeding behavior in deciduous forests of North America.

A family of yellow-bellied sapsuckers seen in the footage, a type of woodpecker that lives in Eastern Canada, creates numerous tiny aligned holes in a tree deep enough to let sap out.

Trees in deciduous and broadleaf forests can sometimes be seen bearing hundred of these little holes that seem to have been made by an automated machine.

In a surprising display of the interaction between two different species in the wild, a [female ruby-throated] hummingbird is attracted to the freshly created sweet drink. It flies and hovers near it, sporadically plunging its tiny beak and visibly draining the content of the small holes. It comes in competition with a wide variety of bugs present in nature that are also attracted to the sugar-filled drink that begins leaking out of the tiny holes.

Returning sapsuckers also drink from the previously made holes while resting in place. They sometimes take advantage of the opportunistic tiny meals that are the careless ants walking around and straight to their death.

The extraordinary behavior displayed by the ruby-throated hummingbird to insure a proper diet can perhaps explain why so many nectar-drinking birds can thrive in an environment with a lack of it.

The footage was filmed in 4K Ultra High Definition in late August in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Late August is just before the ruby-throated hummingbird will be on a long autumn migration journey. The extra energy is welcome.

The yellow-bellied sapsuckers will then go south as well. I saw this species in Cuba.