Just curious. What kind of critter makes these holes in some Poplar trees?
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/2410/Image0040.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/2410/Image0041.jpg)
This tree is probably 50' to the first limb, and the holes go from the root to as far up as I can see, and I guess on to the top.
Most likely a yellow bellied sapsucker.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/17472/2146/3.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/17472/2146/2.jpg)
Yes, sapsucker. I had 4 all at once this spring on a yard pine. They come to it every year. They have killed my Japanese larch. They are a curse in my book. :-X >:( They will riddle any hemlock big enough to make a stick of pulp and bigger.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11009/SD_sapsucker-002.jpg)
I jammed his radar I think. ;D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11009/SD_sapsucker.jpg)
Well, he has a carbide tipped pecker, cause there are thousands of holes in that old Poplar.
The board I showed came from a tree on our property that looked exactly like the one you showed.
Most of the boards from it showed that kind of figure, but the closer you get to the heart the less distinguished it is. I have a about 200 bf of nicely figured stuff and even more that doesn't have enough to be of significance.
I call it "Bird Peck Poplar"
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,39210.msg564015.html#msg564015
Yes, the yellow bellied sapsucker. Their wood work is often called "pecker wood". ;)
Magic they return to the same tree in migration, and as I said, there can be many of them buzzards using one tree. Maybe they don't migrate down your way but stick around all year. I never checked the maps.
You should see our poor forest grown hemlocks. You'd wonder how the trees just don't die.
I've heard reports that the Yellowbellied Sap Sucker won't kill a tree because they leave enough space between holes for the tree to receive the nutrients required.
But, I suppose that once in a while they will kill a tree.
We have a Red Oak that my wife and I planted just after we were married, coming up on 9 years in July.
Well, the tree was 6' tall when we planted it, now it is around 20' and about 3.5" dbh ;D.
Last year the Sap Suckers hit it, then they were on Sheila's hit list.
They didn't do much damage though.
As far as I'm concerned they will kill a tree like an infestation of bark beetles, but takes a lot longer depending on frequency of visits and the number sharing it.
Well, they are certainly busy little sapsuckers. There are other Poplars close around, but it looks like they favor this tree. I guess that is a good thing because they could have hit them all. :(
MM your situation sounds like mine, there were only 2 trees like that in a stand of about 30. I figure the same bird (and maybe it's kin..) just keep coming back to the same tree again and again.
I don't know why they are fascinated with my red pine tree in the yard. I have others planted out behind and I don't see a mark.
MM,
That tree must be sweeter than the rest.
I wonder if when they see a tree that has already been pecked, they assume that one is the "sweetest", as SD says, so they all go to that one
It may have something to do with mating behaviour. Kinda like a social club where the sapsuckers go to hang out and pick up she sapsuckers. :D Apparently though they kind of congregate in an area in a loose net colony during the breeding season. They are thicker than swallows around here. At one time we had more swallows than you could begin the count on the telephone wires and even in the deep woods around camps and bridges.
I just read that they also eat the bugs that are attracted to the sap, so when the bugs become scarce they drill more holes, eat the sap, and then the bugs, probably until the trees dies. However, the tree I cut didn't show any signs of stress from it, and the "peck" figure went quite deep into the log, so it seems they had been feeding from that tree for awhile.
MM, what was the DBH of that poplar?
Our hemlocks up here are testament to that Tyb, pecking and feeding for decades on them. Yes both bugs and sap and nuts and suet and who knows what all they eat. Hummingbirds feed on the sap holes, I've seen that a few times. When ever 'm in hardwoods marking out and have my red hard hat on, the hummers dive on me. :D But they are also looking for sap holes. This I notice more in late August-September before migration. That late in the year there aren't much woodland flowers under hardwood for a hummer except asters and golden rod type flowers in openings. Many flowers do there thing before the leaves come on the maples while there is still no closed canopy from leaves.
That particular tree is growing between two high ridges and on the very edge of a 3' deep drain. It is absolutely in the wettest part of those woods, so yes, it's sap flow should be greater than any of the surrounding trees.
I haven't put a tape to it, but I would estimate the DBH at 32"
They hit hickories most often in my neck of the woods. In fact, sapsucker rings are used as an ID feature for hickory around here. If you are looking a long ways through the woods and see a sapsucker ring on a tree but can't make out what species it is, you can bet your boots it's probably a hickory. They will peck other tree species too, but by far their favorite tree here is hickory.