As many hours as I have spent in the woods over the years, I have never seen a woodpecker nesting tree like the one I recently saw behind my neighbor’s house.
I’ve seen woodpecker trees, where they methodically drill small holes in a pattern around a tree, looking for and eating insects. I’ve watched pairs of woodpeckers work together on one of those trees while I sat in my treestand, hoping for a deer to come within my shooting range.
Those trees are really common.
But I’m talking about a big dead tree, with cavernous holes drilled into it — big enough to hold a family of birds and high enough off the ground to keep them safe.
The dead tree behind my neighbor’s house was standing mostly intact with some old holes here and there when my neighbor and I walked our dogs on the woods path one day.
Left, this dead tree has a few old holes, but most of them are new, made by woodpeckers. The birds nest in trees like this and carve out cavities to raise their young. Center, wood debris dropped overnight at the bottom of these trees. It was clearly the work of woodpeckers. Right, the tree to the left is the one with so many new woodpecker holes. You can see the shavings and wood pieces scattered under the tree. Outdoors editor Julie Harris’ Brittany dog Quincy is at the right. All images credit: Julie Harris / BDN.
But the next day, I could smell a fresh-sawdust odor as we got closer to the tree.
The area at the base of the tree was strewn with pieces of the dead tree and big holes were carved in it.
It took me just a moment to realize what I was seeing.
It was really timely because my husband Mike and I had just watched a nature show about woodpeckers, so I recognized it as a woodpecker nesting tree.
There were several good-sized holes in the tree that first time and more have appeared since then.
Woodpeckers are getting ready for spring and babies.
Maine Audubon says that all four species of woodpeckers found in Maine nest in dead tree cavities or dead branches.
We live near a pond and have seen all of the species on our suet or on our trees at one time or another: pileated, red-bellied, red-headed and downy.
The bird pair often digs out a new nest in the same tree they used the year before, according to Maine Audubon. But this one seemed new to me.
I don’t know what species will end up using those nesting holes, but I look forward to watching them from a distance.
