Woodpecker Tree Damage
Woodpeckers can be noisy neighbors, tapping their sharp beaks against trees and buildings for food, housing and mating purposes. Some woodpecker species can injure a tree so severely that it dies, if not from the pecking damage itself, then from the infestation or infection a break in the bark allows.
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Anatomy
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Woodpeckers are between seven and 14 inches long and have sharp strong beaks. Their stiff tails and short sturdy legs with hooked claws help them grasp and balance while they hammer away at a tree trunk or branch.
Types
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Insectivorous (insect-eating) woodpeckers do little damage to live trees, but tree damage done by sapsucker woodpeckers can kill a tree or attract other animals that cause injury.
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Insectivores
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Most woodpeckers make holes in dead or rotten trees to find their favorite food source: insects. The holes they inflict are usually arranged in straight horizontal lines.
Sapsuckers
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The sapsucker woodpecker drills into living trees to retrieve the sticky sap with its long tongue or to eat the insects that also eat sap. They also eat the soft tissues of the tree bark.
Housing
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Woodpeckers enlarge tree cavities for nesting in the spring and lay four to five eggs that hatch within two weeks.
Management
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Insectivorous woodpeckers damage houses, fence posts, and utility poles more often than trees since they prefer dead wood to live.
Methods to prevent damage include exclusion, repellents, devices that frighten and, with a permit, trapping or shooting.
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References
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Sabrina Mae
