Who Did the Tree Carving?

[Patti Edens]

I shot several photos of this bird (Orange-crowned Warbler, I think?) yesterday and I really didn't notice the carvings on the tree until I got home to process. It was shot in a piney woods area about 50 miles north of Houston, Texas. I don't think warblers do this type of carving, do they? The warbler does seem to be getting some insects. Any thoughts as to what actually made the carvings (if not the warbler)?

[Ilija Dukovski]

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers produce carvings like this.
The ones you got are quite large though, larger than
the ones I've seen so far.

[Patti Edens]

Thanks Ilija.

The YBS holes I have seen are smaller and deeper into the wood. This looks like just the bark removed. At first I thought a kid with a pocket knife, but it was too high in the tree. We do have Pileated Woodpeckers on the property. I wonder if they did it?

Appreciate the response.

Patti

[Aidan Briggs]

Not sure exactly what species did this, but it was definitely a woodpecker of some sort. The warbler is probably feeding on sap. Both warblers and hummingbirds will feed from sapsucker wells when other food sources are scarce.

[Patti Edens]

Thanks Aidan. I appreciate the feedback.

I've been looking for photos or descriptions of similar patches, but I have not found anything.

[Paul Lagasi]

I know that porcupines eat bark..but I've never seen them do it in patches..sapsucker usually punch small round holes in tree...would love to know what did this..

[Jim Buescher]

It may be squirrel damage. The photos here look similar:
http://www.walterreeves.com/qa_display.phtml?qaID=918

[Patti Edens]

Paul and Jim,

Thanks for the info. I didn't even think of the possibility of porcupines or squirrels. I'll do some more googling on those two. The pattern is a little different from the link, but a lot closer to anything I've seen for sapsuckers.

Thanks again,
Patti

[Patti Edens]

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker it is (as Ilija said from the start - good call!). A couple of better google searchers that I am found the following links that look just like the damage I saw. They claim that the damage was done by the YBS.

Scroll down to about the middle of the page on this link:
http://digitalflowerpictures.blogspot.com/2007/06/irish-roses.html

On this one you have to scroll all the way to the bottom:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=1avqcmYRwrcC&pg=PP9&dq=Bird+Tracks+and+Sign,+Mark+Elbroch&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=5#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Regards,
Patti