Red Pine, deep woodpecker holes

[hillbillypolack]

I know they're looking for something.

We have a stand of mixed woods, some of the (tall) red pine have deep-ish woodpecker holes. They're 12-20 foot off ground, though I'm unsure which insect might be the culprit. The tree itself looks only partially weakened, but I'm guessing it's only a matter of time.

Any thoughts for the cause, and possible remedy - beyond felling the affected tree?

 

[ironman_gq]

Do you have pine beetles around? http://www.insectidentification.org...sp?identification=White-Spotted-Sawyer-Beetle

Their larvae burrow under the bark in the first year and go deep into the trunk during it's second season before hatching into one of these. We've had 5 large red pines killed by them in the last couple years and all were heavily pecked at by woodpeckers and sapsuckers.

 

[hillbillypolack]

Do you have pine beetles around? http://www.insectidentification.org...sp?identification=White-Spotted-Sawyer-Beetle

Their larvae burrow under the bark in the first year and go deep into the trunk during it's second season before hatching into one of these. We've had 5 large red pines killed by them in the last couple years and all were heavily pecked at by woodpeckers and sapsuckers.

I havent seen the insects directly though there are several varieties of bugs that like evergreens. The holes pecked are rectangular, can fit two fingers to the third knuckle.

If it is the Sawyer bug, is there any way to hold them at bay?

 

[ironman_gq]

Not sure how to manage them other than broad spectrum insecticides like permethrin. I do know that their grubs can grow about as large as my thumb from tip to knuckle, you can hear them chewing the wood on quiet warm nights. You'll hear a creaking squeak sound every few seconds from the tree.

 

[Marine5068]

Any pics?
From the description it sounds like a Pileated woodpecker has found some snacks inside the trees.
Most of the time they are looking (or listening) for carpenter ants in the tree.
They have a very unique excavation in the shape of a longish and deep hole.
I saw a neighbours large white Cedar with huge Pileated holes in it and after talking to him he decided to take it down as it was also too close to the house.
What he found after he started cutting it up was a monster carpenter ant colony of ten thousand or more ants inside.
So that's what the were pecking for. They are very good at finding ants.
Here's a pic I got of one at one of my suet feeders.
It's also a beautiful and the most rare American woodpecker and an necessary and integral part of our forests.

 

[ATH]

.......It's also a beautiful and the most rare American woodpecker and an necessary and integral part of our forests.

FAR from "the most rare". It is not even listed as Threatened...and I've never even heard it listed as being considered for listing.

Ivory-billed woodpecker looks somewhat similar and would probably be considered "the most rare" - possibly even extinct, except for a few credible sources reporting their call. Looks somewhat similar to Pileated.

Red-cockaded is another one that gets a lot of attention. it is federally listed as Endangered...

 

[Marine5068]

Once Widespread

Until the 1870s the ivory-bill was widespread, though uncommon, in lowland primary forests of the southeastern U.S. The bird strips the bark off dying trees with its powerful beak to get to insect grubs beneath.

The bird's disappearance coincided with extensive logging throughout the region, which continued up to the 1940s.

Hunting by professional collectors accelerated the extinction of remaining populations until the bird was given up as extinct. The last documented ivory-bill was seen over logged forestland in 1944.

A subspecies of the woodpecker may have survived in Cuba. Experts reported brief sightings of at least two individuals in 1986 and 1987. However, subsequent efforts to confirm the existence of this population failed.

Even if few breeding pairs survive in the Big Woods of Arkansas, the study team says that prospects for population growth look good. Additions to the publicly owned wildlife refuge lands and habitat- restoration efforts are reestablishing the mature hardwood forests in the area.

Currently about a hundred thousand acres (40,470 hectares) of the Big Woods are protected and conserved, according to Scott Simon, director of the Nature Conservancy in Arkansas. There is a plan to conserve and restore an additional 200,000 acres (80,940 hectares) of critical habitat over the next ten years, Simon added.

Fitzpatrick, the Cornell University ornithologist, said, "The bottomland [or floodplain] forests are growing back, so there are places with 4- and 5-foot-diameter [1.2- and 1.5-meter-diameter] trees again, including those that are beginning to die as they get to a mature stature. That's the kind of forest that ivory-bills need.

"The conditions are only going to get better," he added, "so it's possible that the worst for this bird is past, and with proper management these forests could support growing populations again."

Fitzpatrick sees the ivory-bill as a powerful symbol of the forests of the Deep South. "The lure of the wild and the lure of the beauty of birds and the lure of the mysterious-and-possibly-gone is enveloped in the idea of this bird."

 

[ATH]

Wouldn't that be cool to see an Ivory-billed?

I know what they are getting at...but on the surface, this sounds kinda funny:
".....There is a plan to conserve and restore an additional 200,000 acres (80,940 hectares) of critical habitat over the next ten years, Simon added.

Fitzpatrick, the Cornell University ornithologist, said, "The bottomland [or floodplain] forests are growing back, so there are places with 4- and 5-foot-diameter [1.2- and 1.5-meter-diameter] trees again, including those that are beginning to die as they get to a mature stature. That's the kind of forest that ivory-bills need...."

I'd like to see how they are gonna grow 200,000 acres (or even one) of 4-5' diameter trees in 10 years!