"Black Polymorph" All Black Crown, Female Yellow Bellied Sap Sucker, Montgomery County, PA USA 1/18/20
What is this? I emailed Penn State and they weren't sure so they asked the expert at Cornell. He said he has never seen a yellow bellied sap sucker with these bold colors. However, he found a 1977 research paper stating the author had encountered some females over his 25 years of study he called "black polymorphs". Colors are exaggerated to the extreme. In this case, she has no red at all. Dark black crown and throat and bold yellow breast. I found this to be super cool!
"Black Polymorph" All Black Crown, Female Yellow Bellied Sap Sucker, Montgomery County, PA USA 1/18/20
What is this? I emailed Penn State and they weren't sure so they asked the expert at Cornell. He said he has never seen a yellow bellied sap sucker with these bold colors. However, he found a 1977 research paper stating the author had encountered some females over his 25 years of study he called "black polymorphs". Colors are exaggerated to the extreme. In this case, she has no red at all. Dark black crown and throat and bold yellow breast. I found this to be super cool!