Subject: Re: three-toed woodpecker sign
Date: Jul 7 23:38:39 1998
From: Jack Bowling - jbowling at direct.ca


** Reply to note from Chris Maack on Mon, 29 Jun 1998

> Jim Rosso wrote:
> >
> Okay, I'll bite. What are signs of three toed woodpeckers? I know signs =
>
> for sapsuckers, though obviously not to species, but I would miss signs =
>
> of three toes. I'm guessing that maybe there was a recent forest fire =
>
> through the area. In California we would expect to see Three toed =
>
> woodpeckers in recent burn areas. Am I close?<
>
> I hope I didn't miss the response to this question. I've been trying to
> tie together Three-toed Woodpeckers and sapwell-type holes in
> hemlocks here in Southcentral Alaska and have found both in two
> places, a hemlock forested ridge in Girdwood and a patch of old
> growth forest in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. These holes
> are drilled an inch or less apart around the trunks of mature trees,
> and the rows of holes are maybe 3-6 inches apart. There does not
> seem to be much sap production. So far I haven't witnessed any
> bird drilling or using these holes.

Sorry to have taken so long in replying but I am just now wading through 3 weeks
of backed up e-mail :-(

The only sure sign I know of for either of the 3-toed woodies is the flaking of
bark which piles up at the base of a favored tree. Both the pile of flakes and
the resultant exposed inner bark on the tree are sure signs of their workings.
Must admit I have never heard of a 3-toed drilling parallel holes before but
then my experience has been limited to BC and Yukon forests.

- Jack

--------------
Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jbowling at direct.ca