The members of this genus are slender birds with stiff tails and relatively long wings.

Their typical pattern in flight is undulating, alternating between quick bursts of wing beats and short dips with wings tucked against the body.

The most easily recognized sap holes are found in birch trees during the breeding season.

[citation needed] Because sapsuckers attack living trees, they are often considered a pest species.

A USDA Forest Service study found that 67 percent of gray birch (Betula populifolia) trees damaged by yellow-bellied sapsuckers later died of their injuries.