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If you take a walk through the Basswoods at ALNC, it’s easy to find evidence of life that is thriving. You can become a nature detective by looking for signs of wildlife, and you might see a really cool critter too.
On your hikes, look for woodpecker holes in trees. Different woodpeckers make different kinds of holes. Sometimes the difference is just in the size of the holes. Sometimes you’ll notice a pattern of horizontal lines of holes, like with a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
These little holes were made by a Downy Woodpecker, but these holes aren’t being used to find food, they’re being used as a nesting place! The male and female woodpecker excavate a nest hole in a dead tree or a dead part of a living tree. The entrance hole is usually no more than 1-1.5 inches wide, and the hole can extend 6-12 inches into the tree, widening at the bottom for the nesting place.
#PhenologyUpdate #DownyWoodpecker #WoodpeckerHoles #Nesting #WIEnviroEd #NatureIsEverywhere #NatureIsntCanceled #EverybodyOutside
