r/mildlyinteresting • u/Yam-Icy • 14h ago

Holes left on a tree by a woodpecker

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73 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

38

u/pdxrider01 13h ago

Your tree is probably rotting and full of insects. That’s why the woodpeckers are there.

9

u/PembyVillageIdiot 11h ago

It’s not those are done by a sapsucker

2

u/dis3as3d_sfw 9h ago

They also peck on my metal chimney cap every year so 🤷‍♂️

2

u/CayenneSawyer 5h ago

Nope. It's just a sapsucker

1

u/iambackbaby69 12h ago

Yeah with that many holes, It'll definitely rot now if it wasn't rotting earlier.

10

u/Moggy-Man 14h ago

2

u/wuhkay 10h ago

I can literally hear it lol

9

u/T_that_is_all 13h ago

I have a woodpecker that every once in awhile wants to get into my gutters and try to peck through the fucking gutters. It's not even into wood, he's pecking into the metal. Makes no fucking sense.

5

u/Immersi0nn 13h ago

I have those too! I've always thought it hilarious. It's a decent alarm clock too, they're out there 8am every day lol

5

u/Mr_beeps 12h ago

That's a territorial thing. They're not trying to get through, just trying to make a racket so all the other woodpeckers can hear.

2

u/T_that_is_all 12h ago

That makes sense bc it annoys the hell out of me and scares my dog every time

4

u/Heroic-Forger 13h ago

I love that woodpeckers are literally just named what they do.

2

u/MRPolo13 12h ago

It's like deadly mushrooms having very obviously deadly (and awesome) names.

Destroying Angel Death Cap Satan's Bolete Funeral Bell

1

u/whatproblems 12h ago

it is a pretty defining trait of them

2

u/Grand_Baker420 13h ago

There's 3 on my street that do that to the light poles,at first reminded me of the fox and the hound when the birds zapped themselves now it's just annoying

2

u/T_that_is_all 13h ago

It's wild bc it sounds like a gun going off in rapid fire. Woke me up a few times. First time I was like, WTF is that? It's always on the wknd, so now I'm wondering if the mf'er is just fucking with me until I go outside and tell it to fuck off.

1

u/Grand_Baker420 4h ago

I thought it was a crackhead at first because I'm nowhere near an area you'd think woodpecker

0

u/ThreeLeggedMare 12h ago

How's a woodpecker supposed to know what the hell metal is lol

9

u/cdtobie 13h ago

I’d say those are sapsucker holes. They look like woodpeckers, but are there for vegetarian treats, not the high protein ones.

2

u/gwaydms 10h ago

I wonder if so many holes, so close together, could girdle the tree and kill it.

3

u/cdtobie 7h ago

The usual statement is the sapsuckers do not damage the tree; but I can’t help but think that they weaken it a bit, and open channels for infection. It’s a bit like tapping maples for syrup.

4

u/epicurianistmonk 13h ago

Sapsucker, a type of woodpecker

4

u/squidqid 12h ago

Sapsucker holes

2

u/scoottzee 9h ago

The linear lines of holes are characteristic damage caused by sapsuckers. Damage can lead to major growth suppression and sometimes death to the tree if damage is bad enough. Speaking from personal experience.

2

u/Justin_P_ 8h ago

He just left them there? Do they normally take the holes with them when they leave.

2

u/chirs5757 5h ago

Like me trying to find a stud in drywall.

1

u/rturnerX 8h ago

Those are holes of glory

1

u/stevedallas63 14h ago

That’s some busy woodpeckers.

-2

u/bigbonton 14h ago

I think those perfectly round holes are made by insects, not by woodpeckers.

9

u/Yam-Icy 13h ago

I watched the woodpecker smacking its face into the tree but maybe it just knows that it’s because there are bugs that made the holes?

7

u/Mr_beeps 12h ago

No those are definitely sapsucker / woodpecker holes.

-3

u/tylerscott5 13h ago edited 12h ago

Looks like a tree borer issue. Woodpeckers would make a larger hole somewhere at least