Photo Blog 3/15/10 What's Eating My Stump???

[MikeF9]

Monday March 15, 2010
Photo Blog

WHAT'S EATING MY STUMP???

On Saturday, Margie happen to notice that something has been eating or digging into the old tamarack tree stump. The tree was dead, and we had it cut down a couple of years ago. Margie now has a flower bed next to the upper part of it and there is a black raspberry bush on the lower part. There is chunks of bark and stump all over. Anyone have ideas? If anyone wants to see it in person to get a better idea, please contact me.

[7F24]

My guess is a pileated woodpecker.

[NorthFairfaxBoy]

Skunk..looking for grubs!

[Julie & 6pt Dave]

That makes 2 votes for the Pileated Woodpecker.

[MikeF9]

I received the following from JoAnne Wilkins:


Hi Mike,
I don't believe a pileated woodpecker has done the damage to your tree stump. They don't feed that close to the ground, and the stump was probably covered by snow until recently. I have a similar stump in my yard that has a hole on either side of it. I think it is a chipmunk that is burrowing in your yard. They dig tunnels and carry the dirt away in their cheeks. The wood chips seem to stay behind. They kind of semi hybernate-they come out only occasionally during the winter months.

JoAnne

[7F24]

Mike,
From the National Geographic website.

Pileated woodpeckers forage for their favorite meal, carpenter ants, by digging large, rectangular holes in trees. These holes can be so large that they weaken smaller trees or even cause them to break in half. Other birds are often attracted to these large openings, eager to access any exposed insects.

Pileated woodpeckers do not discriminate between coniferous and deciduous trees—as long as they yield the ants and beetle larvae that make up much of the birds' diet. Woodpeckers sometimes access these morsels by peeling long strips of bark from the tree, but they also forage on the ground and supplement their diet with fruits and nuts.

I still vote for the Pileated Woodpecker.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/pileated-woodpecker/

[Julie & 6pt Dave]

I still vote for the woodpecker too. I have seen them drilling on wood very close to the ground in our yard. Only a woodpecker is going to make chips that large which are strewn that far from the stump.

[Henry]

I took a photo of this tree yesterday just beyond my driveway beside the road - I thought I had put it up, but if I did, I can't find it, anyhow, don't know whether this is just a rotten tree or what it is:

[special ED]

bear

[Mike Raburn]

Palin.

Ed, my guess is "What is Palin." for .01 cents.
(Poor Todd)

[trussell]

Ed, how would you know what bear signs look like?  Oh... Your daughter probably helped you, huh?