A Spruce Tree's Makeover

A good seventy years ago, my parents planted a small windbreak of pine and spruce trees close to our farmhouse. One of the white spruce trees is now a healthy looking specimen measuring five feet in circumference at my shoulder height. It's life expectancy is 200 years. Maybe not as long now. A pair of Pileated Woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus) have given it a dramatic makeover.

Large square holes resemble nesting cavities in the making.

On three sides of this tree, a half dozen deep holes were excavated.

Wounded deeply into the heartwood, spruce gum will surely flow.

Wood chips on the ground clued me to look further up.

 The mystery is why have this pair of pterodactyl look-alikes selected this particular tree? Our bush lot contains hundreds of dead trees that would be easier to excavate and much more private than this one located so close to the house. Are these young birds just practicing their carpentry skills?

Even if they don't follow through with nesting, in years to come other species will surely find the starter homes of interest.

The female Pileated Woodpecker ruffles her feathers as she suns on a spruce tree.

The wary male foraging on an elderly soft maple tree.