The Cranberry Tree

Signs

This winter I drove to work at the courthouse and was stunned to see this!  Large rectangular ovals with sawdust at the bottom of the tree trunk.  Is this man made or animal made? Scroll down to see.

This tree injury is made by a bird: A pileated woodpecker.  Surprisingly this tree damage probably took less than 45 minutes for the woodpecker to punch out.  Birds target decaying trees that have insect food source instead.  Pileated woodpeckers are the largest woodpeckers in North America.  They are about the size of a crow.  The species exhibits sexual dimorphorism.  The one pictured here is a male.  Females do not have the red mustache and their forehead is yellowish-brown instead of red.

Woodpecker species can be identified by sound or by marking left on the wood.  Click here to here the birdcall. http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Pileated_Woodpecker.html

Posted at 11:05AM Apr 06, 2009 by Lesley Lubenow in Wildlife  |  Comments[0]