** Update **What does this to a tree???

[MIKE IN lINO III]

I was just up to the lake and saw this in one of my trees. Any idea what does this? A flock of woodpeckers???

Was up last weekend, they sure are going to town on this tree.

[longcaster]

I would say a piliated woodpecker

[Steve Foss]

Yep, pileated woodpeckers make oblong excavation holes, and I reckon that's what you've got here.

[mountaindew]

Wow. That's interesting!

[MN Shutterbug]

I wonder how long it takes for the woodpecker to excavate a hole that size. Also, why so many holes in the same spot? So many questions.

[Steve Foss]

How long it takes depends on the condition of the wood. Usually there's some rot, sometimes quite a bit of it. That's where the insects and insect larvae the woodpeckers are after hang out.

So if it's rotten, a pileated can make one of those holes in a few minutes.

They're all in the same spot because there was a concentration of insects/larvae there.

[Royce Aardahl]

That's my favorite bird. Good old woody woodpecker. Doesn't take long at all to tear a tree apart. I love the sound they make when I hear one off in the distance when I'm bow hunting. Kinda makes it seem like the dinosaur days with a big ol pterodactyl flying around.

[so haaad]

Talk about a headache!

[MIKE IN lINO III]

TT

[ironman]

I would wager the tree is full..or at least used to be full..of carpenter ants. We had tree somewhat like that, not as many holes though, and decided to cut it down. When the tree fell it was almost completely hollow inside..one good storm and that thing was going down. What was even more amazing was the masses of ants that spilled out. Then when cutting it into sections...every cut yeilded hundreds more ants. From top to bottom that thing was an ant farm. You may want to get rid of the tree because from what I understand..those ants will spread to other trees pretty fast.

[MIKE IN lINO III]

Interesting Ironman,

Anyone know the best way to kill a colony like this?

The tree is up at the lake and is surrounded by Ash trees. I'd rather not have that many ants around.

Mike

[Steve Foss]

It may be ants the woodpeckers were after in these pictures, or maybe not. There are several insect species that target ash trees, including ants, and the pileated will grab them all.

[buzzsaw]

Ditto whats been said... bugs in the tree drives those big old Pileated WP's crazy! There are trees like that all over Carlos Avery.

[sparcebag]

Well I guess its a Basswood tree & yes Piliated,lots of grubs in the basswood, softwood,I believe the softest in our area,once rot starts,lots of insects take advantage of the soft areas lay eggs which in turn hatch to larval stage (grubs)and the woodpeckers love em

[NAMASafetyDirector]

We had a pilliated W.P. in the yard at the cabin a few years back and for some reason he loved to hang on the edge of the pump house and let er' rip on the steel roof! Sounded like a howitzer!!! Never understood that one, sure P.O.'d the ol'man first thing in the morning though!!

[Steve Foss]

sparce, the trees in this series are ash, though pileateds DO love their soft basswood trees.

NAMA, probably the bird was using the steel roof to make its drumming heard from farther away. Drumming is one way the pileateds (and other woodpeckers) use to communicate.

[sparcebag]

Well stf cant sleep saw this and had to take a look at the tree again ash has elongated seeds in small flowering groups.The Basswood has little clusters of round seeds,look close, the barks are similar smooth on top rough on bottom,but so many holes and so many roted broken stubs ash normally dont have them and the peeling or flaking bark is BW.Check the tree spring summer,almost sure its Basswood.

Too many Jalapinos tonight

Went back after I wrote this and looked again too much dead large branches even hanging in tree and the seed groups with the hairy stubble...It is basswood

[MIKE IN lINO III]

Thanks guys.

As far as the tree goes.... I don't think it is an Ash because of its size. 80% of the trees in my woods are Ash but none of them are as large as this one. This tree also has some residual leaves from last fall. None of the other Ash trees have leaves.

Either way, I think it will be coming down this fall, on its own or the one cut prune.

Mike

[Steve Foss]

Well, still looks a lot more like an ash to me than a basswood, but I'm happy to stand corrected.