I have a Maple tree in my yard that has something wrong with it. It's stunted, as compared to the others it was planted with and has dead branches and limbs throughout, which brake and fall constantly.
I bought from the same nursery, along with (4) other Maple trees and all were planted at the same time. The others are doing terrific and almost twice as big and tall as this sick one.
One thought, and the likely issue, is that the tree is suffering from 'girdling roots", where the roots grow in a circle around the trunk, essentially choking the tree by restricting water and nutrient flow. Apparently, this is a known problem with Maple trees.
Now that the tree is sickly, it's a prime candidate to be taken advantage of and attacked. For example, the picture below shows six perfect holes all lined up in a row on one side of the trunk. I took this pic at one point this past summer and at the time assumed some sort of "borer" insect or a woodpecker had done this.
However, I recently came across the below Instagram video that explains what or who is the likely culprit making these holes. The video shows similar holes and to my surprise it very likely was done by the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker!
Of course I've heard of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker but thinking back I don't recall ever seeing one. To be honest, until researching, I didn't know what one of these birds looked like. Even now that I do, they look so similar to the Downey woodpecker that I don't know if I would have noticed the difference, until now.
According to the Google machine, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are found across Canada, eastern Alaska and the northeastern United States with them wintering in the eastern United States. So, just because I've not seen or noticed any, doesn't mean they're not here and very likely the critter responsible for the holes pictured above.
I'll be paying closer attention to the birds visiting my ole homestead.
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