
Downy woodpecker. Photo by Nancy Ker
ON THE WEST SIDE of my long driveway was what I called the bird condo. It was an old tree, mostly rotten with no top or branches, and stood as a natural totem. It was a sculpture made by wind and rain and mostly by the birds who chiseled out many holes from top to bottom. Several friends and family members remarked on it, mostly with offers to take it down. They considered it an eyesore, some worried that it would fall on someone.
It was actually out of the way from doing much harm. There are a few who understand that it is nice to just leave things alone sometimes and watch. The holes varied in size and shape and told which birds probably made them and why. Tiny, older holes about a ¼” in diameter were made by yellow-bellied sapsuckers. These robin-size birds make a series of holes just deep enough to let the sap flow out. They return later to sip the rich fluids and to keep the holes open. One wonders if they are the birds the Native Americans watched and learned how to collect maple sap for its sweet sugar.
Other birds may drink the sap too, and eat the insects drawn to the sugar. Our smallest woodpecker is the downy, who looks very much like its larger cousin, the hairy woodpecker but has a series of black dots in the white feathers at the edges of the tail. To keep them straight, remember the downy has dots.
Our largest woodpecker is the pileated, the one that is crow-sized and has the beautiful red crest, like the cartoon “Woody” Woodpecker. They make large oblong holes, not round ones like the others. They are so good at chiseling wood that they may completely gut a large tree to get the insect larva inside. People get upset if these birds attack a yard tree, but it shows that the tree is unhealthy, probably dying, and full of insects. Read more…