It's a first-year YB Sapsucker so it doesn't have adult plumage yet. They seem to target particular species or individual trees of a species for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the trees are already stressed or the sapsuckers like their flavor. The sapsuckers also create sap flow to get insects stuck which they eat. They're only working on the trees in that NYC park in Spring or Fall migration but over the life of the tree the drilling holes accumulate. You'll often see two trees of the same species side-by-side with sapsuckers working on only one of them year after year. In the Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Mass. the sapsuckers are heavily attracted to Nikko Firs for example but in the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, the Nikko firs have very little if any sapsucker damage. Very interesting birds, nice video Jenny.
Note on migrating bird collision death in cities: These migrating birds are moving primarily at night, NYC is at a focal point in the east coast migratory flyway, when lights are on in buildings at night it confuses the birds navigation systems and they will fly toward the lights. This is most common on cloudy or foggy nights but happens on any strong migration movement night for instance when there is a good north or northwest wind. -AJ [email protected] wrote: > Doesn't appear to be a yellow sapsucker and the holes are not aligned > in a close enough pattern, another woodpecker perhaps? I have seen > large trees killed by repeated damage such as this when enough cambial > tissue is killed. A neat way to prevent sapsuckers from killing small > trees is to tie a long piece of bamboo to the tree trunk which > interrupts their hole boring pattern, won't help in this situation > though. Nice video. Greg. > On Oct 21, 11:26 pm, JennyNYC <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi! >> >> Erstwhile member Jenny here! >> >> I was walking through this nearby park on 5th Ave. and 23rd st. and >> saw all these woodpeckers pummeling the several species of this tree! >> How long will a tree like this last?? I don't think the tree is id- >> able from my video (even by Steve G.!), but anyone know the species of >> woodpecker? Yellow-bellied sapsucker? (The buildings shown in the >> video are responsible for hundreds of songbird deaths every migration >> season. Macabre birding NYC-style: go find the dead migrating birds! >> They slam into the buildings because reflect the foliage and branches >> of trees.) >> >> Video is 1:45. And it's cute, if wobbly. >> >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZqOnThRcGg >> >> Thanks! >> Jenny >> > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
