Sapsucker damage

I noticed today that some of the trunks of my red maples were soaking wet. Upon closer inspection I found holes almost completely girdling some trees. Red maple seems to be the only species affected so far, and I found about six of them with damage. Do any of you guys have an idea of how to control sapsuckers?

I found that any "control" of either sapsuckers or their cousins pecking holes in my siding are pretty futile at best. Damage on the growing organism seems to not be longlived. 22 bird shot works pretty well on Woody, if you can catch him in the act. Ken

Some good ideas here.

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/howtos/ht_sap/sap.htm

Well now I'm starting to get mad. I just found my favorite Ilex opaca completely girdled. I doubt it makes it. Has anyone tried Tanglefoot®? And would it be available at farm supply stores?

I've used Tanglefoot for gypsy moth caterpillars. Our local garden centers carry it. It is very, very messy to apply. The stuff will catch anything that touches it, bugs, moths and dirt. Over time after some dirt accumulation it becomes inneffective, but by then the birds might have moved on. Neither heat nor cold seem to bother it. It stays sticky at any temp. We had a local public park put Tanglefoot on the oak to trap gypsy moth caterpillars. Parents complained about curious kids getting their hair caught in it. I thought it served the kids right. After all the stuff was applied under a burlap band! I have this image of little Timmy with his head stuck to a tree!


I had a friend who would not tolerate this bird destroying her clump birch. She broke several Federal laws and shot it one morning from her upstairs bedroom window. I suppose this does happen more than we probably know. It certainly is not the solution. The problem with applying Tanglefoot for her was the bird would move up or down the trunk to an area above or below the Tanglefoot. If you use it apply it to as much of the trunk as you reach.

This message was edited Feb 20, 2007 6:29 PM

I wrapped some aluminum foil around the trunk, so maybe that will deter it some. If that Holly survives it will be a miracle. I haven't seen them during the day so I'm assuming they may be doing it at night.

We have a maple in front of the house that gets a visit from sapsuckers each spring. Since we are rolling in maples around here I'm not worried about too much damage. I have seen hummingbirds visiting the "wells" that have been created.

Any success in deterring the sapsucker?

Nope. I am still seeing plenty of holes in the trees but I can never catch the birds in the act. I put aluminum foil around the damage on the holly and so far it hasn't had anymore damage.

Well, that's something anyway.