The Pine Sawyer beetles were the main attraction several years ago at a=20=
Red Pine plantation burn in central Douglas County, Wisconsin.=20 Black-backed Woodpeckers were plentiful for several months after the=20 fire was out, feeding on the larvae of this beetle. Three-toed=20 Woodpeckers also were seen on the burn, although in much smaller=20 numbers. Someone on a WDNR burn crew told me that the beetles often=20 arrived before a fire was out. The woodpeckers also, apparently,=20 followed the smoke. I don't know how else so many of them would have=20 located that particular beetle-infested site. Perhaps some of you recall a fire some years ago near Thunder Bay that=20= also attracted large numbers of these two woodpecker species,=20 particularly Black-backed. This fire covered several tens of thousands=20= of acres. A woodpecker count was taken in one area, that total=20 extrapolated over the entire burn. As I recall, it was estimated that=20 as many as 20,000 Black-backed Woodpeckers could have been present if=20 the saturation of the entire burn matched that of the count area. An aside: when the larvae hatched and the beetles were chewing their=20 way out of the pines, you could clearly hear the munching sound they=20 made. You also could see small piles of sawdust, from the beetles=20 excavation efforts, at the base of the trees from which they had=20 emerged. Jim Williams Wayzata On Oct 31, 2006, at 9:16 AM, Howard Weinberg wrote: In refernce to woodpecker/beetles, here are some tidbits that i recall: =A0 One common group of bark beetles here belong to the "Ips" genus.=A0 The=20= Pine Engraver (Ips pini) is one of the species.=A0 They are=A0in the=20 Scolytidae family.=A0 They are small (~1/4 inch), dark, and have a=20 hunched-over neck/head.=A0 They are one of the species that carve out=20 those cool looking galleries on the tree just under the bark.=A0 Eggs = are=20 laid in those galleries (in brood galleries).=A0 When eggs hatch, the=20 larva move away, creating new tunnels that get bigger as they grow.=A0=20= There are other species as well, and no shortage of wood boring insects=20= too.=A0 The trees around my house for example, have many round exit = holes=20 about the width of a pencil, which i think is pretty indicative of=20 a=A0cerambycid (Long-Horned Beetles), the Pine Sawyer.=A0 They are=20 dark,=A0about an inch long,=A0have very long antenna, and have a white = dot=20 on their back at the base of the wings.=A0 Eggs are laid in the bark and=20= the larva bore into the tree.=A0 That's about all i remember from from = my=20 college days.=A0=A0 =A0 Howard=A0 Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail.=
