Woodpeckers Bark Sloughing
Several species of woodpeckers search for wood-boring beetle larvae by removing the bark from a tree (in addition to drilling holes). This is referred to as bark sloughing. Some birds, such as nuthatches, remove only scales of bark, not the whole layer like woodpeckers, and this is referred to as scaling. After finding or creating an opening, a woodpecker repeatedly slips its pointed beak under loose bark, prying it off of the tree. It then uses its long, barb-tipped tongue to capture the exposed insects. Different woodpecker species tend to feed on either trunks or branches, and at different heights. Initially sloughing can resemble the work of porcupines, but close examination can reveal the marks of a beak, which are perpendicular to the trunk or limb, rather than the grooves left by a beaver’s incisors.
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Pileated Woodpecker Sign
Pileated Woodpeckers typically make rectangular holes in trees in order to reach the carpenter ants that live in galleries they’ve created deep within a tree. While ants are high on a Pileated Woodpecker’s list of preferred food, wood-boring beetle larvae are not far behind. Sometimes the exertion of jackhammering isn’t necessary in order to reach insect larvae – removal of the outer bark is enough to expose tasty morsels.
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Do Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers Really Suck Sap?
My apologies for not posting yesterday — two days without electricity or telephone!
A tell-tale sign of Yellow-bellied Sapsucker activity is the presence of rows of 1/4–inch holes, often drilled in Sugar Maples and birch trees in order to gain access to their nutritious phloem sap. Once the sap begins to flow, sapsuckers insert their tongues into these holes. Here is where their name is misleading, as sapsuckers don’t actually suck the sap, they lap it up with the aid of tiny hair-like projections on the edge of their tongue, which hold the sap by capillary action (see insert). Each flick of the tongue brings more sap into the woodpecker’s mouth.
Because sap is so essential to a tree, wounds are quickly healed over to prevent loss of sap. Scientists still have not figured out how sapsuckers overcome a tree’s defenses and maintain a continuous flow of sap. One theory is that sapsucker saliva may contain a substance that acts as an anticoagulant, preventing sap from clogging up and sealing over the holes the bird creates.
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Hairy Woodpeckers Raising Young
The chipping of hungry Hairy Woodpecker nestlings can easily be detected by human ears, even though it comes from deep within a tree cavity. One is reminded of how beneficial this species is when observing the steady delivery of food by these woodpeckers to their young. More than 75% of an adult Hairy Woodpecker’s diet consists of injurious insects, while the amount of useful insects and cultivated fruits that they destroy is insignificant. Beetle larvae (mostly wood-boring) make up 30% of the insects that are consumed, with ants ranking second, at 17%. Caterpillars, such as those pictured, comprise about 10% of an adult Hairy Woodpecker’s diet, but given this parent’s beakful, one wonders if the percentage is greater for nestlings.
Downy Woodpeckers Drumming
Non-vocal communication between birds of the same species has become apparent in the last week or so — downy woodpeckers have started to hammer out bursts of steady staccato drum beats on nearby trees. Both male and female woodpeckers drum year round, but they do so most intensively from January to May, especially during the courtship and early nesting season which begin in March. Woodpeckers drum for a variety of reasons: defending territory, attracting a mate, maintaining contact with a mate, signaling readiness for copulation and summoning a mate from a distance. Woodpecker pairs do engage in duet drumming , which is thought to play a role in nest site selection and in promoting and maintaining the bond between mates.
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