The woodpecker pecked....

Anyone know rest of this sweet little ryme?

The good news is I got to watch a Pileated Woodpecker up close, which was rather facinating. The bad news is I'm afraid my Arbor Vitae is toast. I didn't see any obvious signs that this tree was stressed going into winter, but we've had several dry summers (and winters) and I'm thinking this might have taken its toll. As you can see, I followed the Decumbent pruning philosophy and limbed this tree up. This was actually done several years ago, but I'm wondering if this might have made the tree more susceptible to stress and eventual woodpecker blasting. Do woodpeckers ever do this sort of thing just for entertainment or perhaps to keep their pecker in shape?

Oops, forgot photo.

It would only generally do this if there was something to eat inside the tree that it wanted to get at. Suggests there's some sort of wood-boring insect somewhere in there. Check the woodpecker holes carefully to see if there's any insect tunelling in there.

Resin

Maacki, Pileated comon up here in the North woods. Did you watch it "at work", really make the chips fly. Ken

That makes my sapsucker damage not look so bad.

Hi Resin - Here's a closeup of largest cavity. The wood seems healthy, but there's an interior cavity that looks like may have been created by borers.

Another look at the cavity.

Ken - They are an incredible bird to watch at work. Besides being huge, they're like a jackhammer pounding away at the tree. The chips they were a flying.

Here's a full picture of tree. She's not a beauty by any stretch of the imagination, but it provided protection for my Pagoda Dogwood.

I'm not gonna be the only one who will miss it.

Looks to me like the wood is partly decayed, so there may well be insects in it too. The foliage looks OK, though, no reason the tree shouldn't go on growing well, just as a hollow specimen. Most old trees are hollow, so there's nothing out-of-the-ordinary there.

Resin

Maackia, if you hadn't posted those pics I wouldn't have believed it. Incredible.

FYI:
______________
The Woodpecker

The woodpecker pecked out a little round hole
And made him a house in a telephone pole.
One day when I watched he poked out his head,
And he had on a hood and a collar of red.

When the streams of rain pour out of the sky,
And the sparkles of lightning go flashing by,
And the big, big sheets of thunder roll,
He can snuggle back in the telephone pole.

Elizabeth Roberts


This message was edited Mar 13, 2007 6:24 AM

That's it! My dad had a slightly more risque version which I dare not share.

Their beaks are highly specialized but they don't need to keep their beaks in shape per se. I don't believe any bird ever does this kind of thing for entertainment. Generally they don't hammer away on a tree or the wood siding to your home unless there is something in it for them. This can be for food, to establish territory, or to attract a mate. Repeated hammering on a tree to attract a mate is called "drumming" but many woodpeckers get sort of carried away and will drum on chimney caps, gutters, or anything else that happens to be readily accessible and... loud. Really great at the crack of dawn to have one "drumming" on your chimney cap for a few weeks straight.

To me--the sound of a woodpecker means the sound of a saw in the not too distant future. We had a woodpecker at work two years ago on a tree outside a bedroom window, and my kids were delighted with the early morning sounds of the rapid fire pecking. Only later did I discover that the sound was directly related to the bird feasting on the bugs making their way through the "marvel" in our backyard. The next spring the woodpecker was gone and so was our shady elm. There is a another woodpecker at work in our neighborhood (across the street) and I know it's only a matter of time now before another giant bites the dust. Beware the sound of the woodpecker--he portends the saw.

One more thing on the Pileated. It must have been the inspiration for 'Woody Woodpecker' for when you hear its call it is a dead on mimic of the cartoon character. Ken