Michael,

I am wondering: are these not the same type of stands that are
used by Williamson's sapsuckers in the interior? I must admit I am
quite unfamiliar with the hahits of this woodpecker species.

Cheers,
Paul Duval
Vancouver, B.C.

On Wed, 31 Dec 1997, Michael Price wrote:

> Hi Tweets,
>
> Susan L. Collicott writes:
>
> (snip)
> >We used osage orange
> >in exhibits. It was the only wood that lasted more than a few days on the
> >macaws' island: their sharp beaks whittled oak as fast as balsa wood.
> >It's hell on saws though...
>
> Another unbelievably tough, heavy wood is larch larix sp. On a bird survey
> in the southern Interior of BC a few years ago, some of my study plots were
> in old-growth mountain larch L. occidentalis forest. The wood is so dense
> and iron-hard that a 100+ meter (300+ ft) tree would typically be no much
> more than one meter (3 ft) in diameter for most of its height, and totally
> rigid. When the wind blew hard the doug-firs and redcedars might bend, but
> the larch moved back and forth straight and inflexible as a ruler. Because
> of the larch wood's imperviousness, woodpeckers can't bore holes in it, nor
> can they find nesting cavities in it. About all that drilling insectivores
> can do with a larch is sit in it.
>
> Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
> Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery and change;
> mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better days.
> Aphra Behn (1640-1689)
>
>