Reading the Signs

Yesterday I wrote about interpretation of the signs of animal activity. This picture is a classic example of woodpecker activity. What the bird(s) have been doing is drilling in through the bark to extract insects that are living under the bark. While something like this is obvious to a seasoned naturalist like me, by seasoned I man that I have finally dried out, to a novice it could look as though it were insect activity that caused the holes. While it was experience that told me what I was seeing, I was able to confirm this via observation as I saw a Greater Spotted Woodpecker feeding on this stump. I also saw a Green Woodpecker feeding here during the early summer and both seemed to be feeding young at the time. The Green would vacate the stump when the Greater came along but would be back the moment the greater spotted had collected food for its young.

The second image shows just how perforated the woodpeckers have made the stump, and these holes make it easier for other insects to lay their eggs. Thus a tall standing stump from a wind snapped tree like this becomes more beneficial in its death than it was in its life.