# Woodpecker damage on cedar tree



## AT sawyer (Jun 15, 2009)

The woodpeckers are tearing up the cedars around my cabin. One tree was so pecker-holed that I had to take it down. I'd like to save this tree, but I don't know if there is anything I can put in the "excavation". Any thoughts?

Shotgun would manage some of the damage if I could be there when the [email protected] birds came around......

(Young man is an aspiring woodsman)


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## treeseer (Jun 15, 2009)

Are you saying a bird made that big hole 1' off the ground???

Attached are weird vertical lines of bird holes--a spruce near Maidens VA--anyone ever seen em travel thataway before?


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## Tree Pig (Jun 15, 2009)

May sound a little wacky but you can try an owl decoy. They have worked to keep the bastards off my redwood sided house.


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## BC WetCoast (Jun 15, 2009)

As a cavity, that one isn't large enough warrant removal. However, it looks like there may be decay (heart rot) in the centre of the tree. Woodpeckers are insect eating birds, so they are pecking (drumming) to excavate areas where they can find grubs and other insects. Are you noticing any kind of insect activity around this hole?

Woodpeckers usually don't peck at trees just for the fun of it (although I've seen them hammering away on a metal protective cap on top of a telephone pole), and is an indication of some kind of insect activity in the tree(s). If you do indeed have insect problems, getting rid of the birds won't solve your problem.

I think you need to do a little more investigation around the tree and report back.


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## hanniedog (Jun 15, 2009)

I love it you build a cabin in the woods then ##### about the critters that inhabit the woods.


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## asthesun (Jun 16, 2009)

get rid of the bugs and the birds will leave. that doesnt look like pecker wood to me though.


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## tree MDS (Jun 16, 2009)

Pignut Hickory? Those trees are often hollow.

I'll bet thats one of them big a$$ed woody woodpecker (piliated??) looking ones, probably eating the ants?? I've seen those things make swiss cheese out of white pines before, so bad that I wouldnt even think of climbing them when they were done. Not often, but I have seen it.


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## A. Stanton (Jun 16, 2009)

AT, these birds spook pretty easy. I would recommend getting some big plastic trash bags and shred em up so that they make a lot of movement in the wind, or make them to look like ghosts: with a head and loose ends hanging down. Hang em around your area up in the trees. They sell mylar ballons to do this, but trash bags are cheaper.


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## AT sawyer (Jun 16, 2009)

It's a summer cabin, so I can't chase them off on a regular basis. I hadn't thought of the insect-as-food reason, though if I bomb the tree with insecticide, it will still be hollow and invite the woodpeckers I suspect.

As for who was there first, that doesn't matter since I'm there now. Woodpeckers will get the same welcome as red squirrels.


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## Toddppm (Jun 16, 2009)

I had to drop a couple of my fathers Loblolly pines near his summer house that the wood peckers put such big holes in they almost went through in a couple spots. 
I ended up notching above the holes about 6 ft. high. Kind of hairy, I thought they might break and kick back near the holes.


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## ddhlakebound (Jun 16, 2009)

AT sawyer said:


> It's a summer cabin, so I can't chase them off on a regular basis. I hadn't thought of the insect-as-food reason, though if I bomb the tree with insecticide, it will still be hollow and invite the woodpeckers I suspect.
> 
> As for who was there first, that doesn't matter since I'm there now. Woodpeckers will get the same welcome as red squirrels.





Sounds to me like you're more well suited to staying in the city. 

I've never thought much of people who display the attitude "As for who was there first, that doesn't matter since I'm there now." 

Wether you want to realize and accept it or not, you've got a responsibility to CARE for the land, and leave it better than you found it. Learn how to live with the critters in the woods, and you'll be better off in the long run. 

It's an ecosystem, and spreading around a bunch of insecticide won't solve your problems. You'll probably kill some bugs, some good, some bad, but you won't make a dent in what the woodpeckers are eating with insecticide. Blasting the woodpeckers will probably result in more bugs killing more trees next year, and drawing in even more woodpeckers later on. It's all about balance, and nature's got much better balance than man.


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## jrietkerk (Jun 16, 2009)

AT sawyer said:


> (Young man is an aspiring woodsman)



maybe you can find someone to teach the young feller to understand ecology and appreciate nature, instead of looking to kill birds and spray insecticides. In the mean time, look up some info about cedars and appreciate that they will have to be pretty good and rotten to be a hazard. Are you cutting them down because you don't like the 'look' of the woodpecker excavations?


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## AT sawyer (Jun 17, 2009)

I would much prefer to save the trees, and since I can't always be there to shoo(t) away the woodpeckers, I'd prefer to deprive them of their food source. The one's that I've cut were pecked through in multiple places and were unstable.

As for mastery of my domain, man has been clearing varmints out of his living space since he chased the first bear out of the first cave.


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## ddhlakebound (Jun 17, 2009)

AT sawyer said:


> I would much prefer to save the trees, and since I can't always be there to shoo(t) away the woodpeckers, I'd prefer to deprive them of their food source. The one's that I've cut were pecked through in multiple places and were unstable.
> 
> As for mastery of my domain, man has been clearing varmints out of his living space since he chased the first bear out of the first cave.



:monkey:

What does it matter if they were pecked through and unstable, unless they have targets?

So since you cut down the woodpeckers favorite tree, I'm wondering, did they get the message? (Apparently the message is "stop doing what you were progammed to do....peck on trees and eat bugs, cause it's YOUR land now") Show 'em the deed, that'll really stick it to those pesky birds. Maybe have the sherriff out to warn them off for trespassing. 

I'm sure you're still getting the message.....(tap tap tap......tap tap tap tap).....and you probably will be until you decide that bugs and woodpeckers are just too damn much trouble and clearcut the whole thing. 

If you really do want to make the woodpeckers go elsewhere for dinner, then improve the health of your trees, and they'll have a lot less bugs for the woodpeckers to chase. (This will require learning, not fertilizing.)

As far as master of your domain.....pfft.....yeah, I'm sure you're a legend in your own mind.


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## jrietkerk (Jun 17, 2009)

AT sawyer said:


> I would much prefer to save the trees, and since I can't always be there to shoo(t) away the woodpeckers, I'd prefer to deprive them of their food source. The one's that I've cut were pecked through in multiple places and were unstable.
> 
> As for mastery of my domain, man has been clearing varmints out of his living space since he chased the first bear out of the first cave.



I was hoping you would at least use something from the bible or the republican party to validate your fear of the environment and your addiction to gunpowder and petrochemicals - but you got this dense all on your own. Poor kid. .


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## Rftreeman (Jun 17, 2009)

hanniedog said:


> I love it you build a cabin in the woods then ##### about the critters that inhabit the woods.


or move to the city and plant trees so you can't see the neighbor's house.


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## pdqdl (Jun 18, 2009)

Myself, I like the woodpeckers as much as the trees, so I just let each fend for themselves.

If I had a pileated woodpecker digging a nest in a tree (never seen one around here), I would politely ask it if I could help in any way.


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## treeseer (Jun 18, 2009)

They do make nesting boxes, or you can--why not put one up so they be stoppin their choppin?

Pileateds are way cool to watch. Beauteous.


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## tree md (Jun 18, 2009)

treeseer said:


> They do make nesting boxes, or you can--why not put one up so they be stoppin their choppin?
> 
> Pileateds are way cool to watch. Beauteous.



I agree. I love to watch them. I was out in the woods onetime and found where someone had shot a large red headed wood packer and a large hoot owl in the same location and just left them on the ground. I was thinking that the woodpeckers and owls were protected. Anyway, it burnt me up to see them shot and wantonly wasted, left on the ground. I am a hunter myself but my number 1 rule is to eat anything I shoot.


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## squad143 (Jun 18, 2009)

I end up doing quite a few removals in cottage country of trees that have been attacked by woodpeckers seeking the "bugs within". If the setting is right, I'll even suggest that they leave a 12' stump so the birds can continue to have a food source and that they (the customers) can enjoy the nature.


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## Fireaxman (Jun 19, 2009)

AT sawyer said:


> The woodpeckers are tearing up the cedars around my cabin. One tree was so pecker-holed that I had to take it down. I'd like to save this tree, but I don't know if there is anything I can put in the "excavation". Any thoughts?
> 
> Shotgun would manage some of the damage if I could be there when the [email protected] birds came around......



Rather than condeming them, I'ld like to suggest you thank and encourage the woodpeckers for showing you where your sick trees are. Unlike Sapsuckers, which attack healthy trees for the sap, Pileateds eat mostly carpenter ants and wood boring beetles. The heart rot that attracted the bugs in the first place is the big problem. The woodpeckers are just opening it up so you can see it. Better to find it now, and get the weakened trees removed, than to wait until a storm comes through and then have one come down on your summer retreat because of an unknown weakness (heart rot).


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## jrietkerk (Jun 19, 2009)

Fireaxman said:


> Unlike Sapsuckers, which attack healthy trees for the sap, Pileateds eat mostly carpenter ants and wood boring beetles. The heart rot that attracted the bugs in the first place is the big problem.



Don't care what they eat. . . light up some tires on fire and drive the buggers away with the smoke, maybe put out some poison bait for the gophers. . . 

I'll bet he's already hosed the trees and the kid down with some contact insecticide.

Wonder how 'unstable' the trees were - I climbed 70 or 80' into a western redcedar with excavations big enough to use for holds, and had no problems with the wood being too unstable in any way. I'd get lambasted and fined here for shooting any birds, or irresponsibly hosing down trees with poison. Sorry, but you're out of hand, even for Virginia.


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## tree md (Jun 19, 2009)

jrietkerk said:


> Don't care what they eat. . . light up some tires on fire and drive the buggers away with the smoke, maybe put out some poison bait for the gophers. . .
> 
> *I'll bet he's already hosed the trees and the kid down with some contact insecticide.*
> 
> Wonder how 'unstable' the trees were - I climbed 70 or 80' into a western redcedar with excavations big enough to use for holds, and had no problems with the wood being too unstable in any way. I'd get lambasted and fined here for shooting any birds, or irresponsibly hosing down trees with poison. Sorry, but you're out of hand, even for Virginia.



Not sure what to make of that. At best your drunk. At worst an uneducated fool if you think woodpeckers are killing your trees.


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## jrietkerk (Jun 19, 2009)

tree md said:


> Not sure what to make of that. At best your drunk. At worst an uneducated fool if you think woodpeckers are killing your trees.



think this through - I'm just being satirical, as I don't think the original poster has much to say anymore. However, it would be best if I was drunk. . .


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## tree md (Jun 19, 2009)

jrietkerk said:


> think this through - I'm just being satirical, as I don't think the original poster has much to say anymore. However, it would be best if I was drunk. . .



LMAO!


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## Fireaxman (Jun 19, 2009)

treeseer said:


> They do make nesting boxes, or you can--why not put one up so they be stoppin their choppin?
> 
> Pileateds are way cool to watch. Beauteous.



This one was in the swamp on Tchefuncte River a couple of months ago. We were in Kayaks, making little noise, and he was so intent on the beetle larvae in this dead black gum that he let us get within just a few feet. It was getting late, the light was poor, and he was constantly in motion, so the picts are a little blurred. But believe it - our biggest surviving woodpecker can really make the bark fly!

Too bad we have lost the bigger one, the Ivory Billed. Too much insectiside and too many summer cottages, I suppose. There are rumors of a few of them still surviving in Atchafalaya Swamp, but no one has been able to document them photographicly. At least, lets do what we can to keep this one around.


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## tree md (Jun 20, 2009)

Fireaxman, I have a dear friend in Lafayette who was telling me they believe they have spotted the Ivory Bill and have even got a pic. Have you heard anything about that? I believe it was the Ivory Bill. It is one of the wood peckers that they have thought to be extinct for a half a century.


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## Fireaxman (Jun 21, 2009)

tree md said:


> Fireaxman, I have a dear friend in Lafayette who was telling me they believe they have spotted the Ivory Bill and have even got a pic. Have you heard anything about that? I believe it was the Ivory Bill. It is one of the wood peckers that they have thought to be extinct for a half a century.



Yessir. Lafayette is real close to the Atchfalaya Basin, or Atchafalaya swamp, pronounced kind of like "Chafalya". That was where I was referring to when I said "...rumors of a few of them still surviving in Atchafalaya Swamp". Pretty strong testimony from some reputable locals from what I understand, but I was not aware of any pictures yet, and from what I understood it sounded like the national "Experts" had not found one yet. Maybe I dont have the "Latest and Greatest". I'll check around on the web tonight and see what I can find.

Would love to know there are a few still around. The Pileateds are pretty impressive for a woodpecker, but from what I have heard the Ivory Billed were nothing short of Majestic.

We are starting to get a few Bald Eagles back down here too. One landed on my pond last spring, and a pair did that aerial display over my house. And, the Osprey are back in pretty good numbers. Good news. The swamp is finally recovering from DDT.


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## Fireaxman (Jun 21, 2009)

Yep, I was way behind on this. Sightings in Arkansas have been confirmed, and there is a video and a Management Plan. Couldn't find anything on sightings I had heard about in the Atchafala, but saw some references to sightings in Texas and Florida.

Good News! If they got'em in Arkansas, bet we've got a few down here in the Louisiana swamps.

Well, maybe. Thats why they say Cajuns make better lovers. They'll eat Anything.


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## StihlRockin' (Jun 22, 2009)

From early on I didn't think Sapsuckers were wood peckers. They are a different breed.

Woodpeckers usually peck at rotted/rotting wood for insects. They instinctually know where to look for their grub. Sapsuckers on the other hand are a major reason so many red-headed woodpeckers get killed by overzealous home owners looking to get rid of the Sapsucker. The red head is getting a raw deal and being mistaken for the Sapsucker.

Sapsuckers, in my area, peck shallow even lined holes in the bark of certain trees for 2 reasons. One is to get the sap dripping and the other is to set a trap. Insects that are attracted to the sap get stuck within it. The Sapsucker makes his little traps all over the place and tends them regularly. Each time he comes, he may feed on both the sap and the insects stuck in the sap.

Because the Sapsucker digs such shallow holes, I don't see how this would kill a tree on a regular basis... after having known trees to have very good healing properties from larger physical damages. I don't think Sapsucker's hole making is a reason for the tree to die.

If concerned about holes being made either by Sapsuckers or wood peckers, they can be filled in with grafting wax or the tree can be lined with mesh wire as a preventative for further pecking.

*StihlRockin'*


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## tree md (Jun 22, 2009)

Fireaxman said:


> Yessir. Lafayette is real close to the Atchfalaya Basin, or Atchafalaya swamp, pronounced kind of like "Chafalya". That was where I was referring to when I said "...rumors of a few of them still surviving in Atchafalaya Swamp". Pretty strong testimony from some reputable locals from what I understand, but I was not aware of any pictures yet, and from what I understood it sounded like the national "Experts" had not found one yet. Maybe I dont have the "Latest and Greatest". I'll check around on the web tonight and see what I can find.
> 
> Would love to know there are a few still around. The Pileateds are pretty impressive for a woodpecker, but from what I have heard the Ivory Billed were nothing short of Majestic.
> 
> We are starting to get a few Bald Eagles back down here too. One landed on my pond last spring, and a pair did that aerial display over my house. And, the Osprey are back in pretty good numbers. Good news. The swamp is finally recovering from DDT.



Yeah, I remember now that They first thought they spotted one in the Atchafalaya Swamp. There were experts searching for them and trying to document proof of their existance. I remember they had some video footage of what they thought to be an Ivory Bill. Wasn't very conclusive though. If I'm not mistakened, the Ivory Bill has a solid white bar running the lenght of it's tail feathers where it's closes relative has a broken white bar. The video was grainy but it did look like it had the white markings of the Ivory Bill. They also had what they thought to be audio recordings of the Ivory Bill. I'm glad to see they have been spotted elsewhere.

We have an abundance of Bald Eagles here. In one of my tree stands near a steep creek bluff I see them nesting every year. I sat in another stand in that same creek bottom a couple of years ago and counted 30 Bald Eagles flying up the bottom in a mornings hunt. Don't matter how many times I have seen an Eagle fly before, It always makes my spirit soar every time I see one.


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