![]() This suggests that many trees and snags previously considered suitable for cavity-excavating birds actually may not be.” “The researchers also found that at-risk species were nesting within burned areas where up to 96 percent of the trees had unsuitably hard wood. A study in Washington’s eastern Cascades found that cavity-excavating birds preferred trees with significantly soft interior wood. For species that must roost in cavities during winter, insulated roosting cavities within trees are essential for them to be able to escape frigid temperatures it can mean the difference between life and death.īut they can’t use just any old tree. Woodpeckers also use snags to communicate during breeding season. In addition to providing vital housing for many types of insects (including some pollinators), cavity-nesting birds (around 80 species in North America), amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals (including bats), they provide food and open perches, and double as storage lockers. With their rotting wood, hollow cavities, broken branches and loose bark, dead and dying trees - known as snags - may actually provide more varied habitat for all sorts of creatures than when they were alive. ![]() It wasn’t until the second week of June, when our neighbor told us of baby bird sounds coming from the cavity, that we realized what they’d been up to. ![]() Excavation of the gourd-shaped cavity continued, but there appeared to be little activity as the month progressed, at least to our eyes and ears, grounded 40 feet below during a very wet, cool spring that kept us indoors more than usual. Late in April, it became clear that the third chamber - its depth now at least as long as the birds themselves - would become their little nursery. What’s with all the holes? Woodpeckers-expert woodworkers of the avian world-including the downy, hairy, pileated, flicker, and many others, hollow out separate chambers for nesting and roosting and, as you’ll read further on, are considered “keystone species” for their crucial role in creating habitat for other woodland species who depend on dead and dying trees in the landscape. ![]()
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