Woodpeckers are destroying my tree

Woodpeckers are destroying my tree — What It Means and What To Do

Three distinct patterns that do not mean the same thing. Neat horizontal rows of shallow, evenly spaced holes ringing a trunk or limb is a sapsucker. Scattered pecking with the outer bark chipped away so an ash trunk looks streaked or blonde is woodpeckers stripping bark to reach larvae. Large oval or rectangular holes gouged several inches deep with coarse chips piled at the base is a pileated woodpecker cutting into wood that was already soft.

Not urgent

Woodpeckers are reading the tree for you. Apart from sapsuckers they are not attacking it — they follow insects, and insects follow dead or decaying wood. Heavy foraging damage is evidence that something else got there first, so the bird is the alarm rather than the fire. Sapsuckers are the exception: they drill for sap on healthy trees, and while the rows look bad and can occasionally girdle a small limb, they rarely kill an established tree.

What it usually costs

Normally a tree trimming job: $250 to $1,400 around Indianapolis, depending on size and access. A range, not a quote.

What it usually costs

Woodpeckers are destroying my tree by town

Other tree problems