That Dead Tree May Hold Life

Pileated Wood Pecker (Dryocopus pileatus) adult and two juvenilles in a nesting cavity. By Jan Bowman.

A dead tree is often considered a danger of sorts depending on where it stands from a human perspective, but dead trees provide a lot more than just potential nutrients once fallen to the ground. As they stand, they may hold more life than meets the eye.

Some animals hollow out dead and dying trees to provide homes for themselves (primary cavity nesters), and many other animals will use these cavities once vacated by the creator as their home (secondary cavity nesters).

In Chautauqua County, the primary cavity nesters are woodpeckers. Following the large die-off of Ash trees due to the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) beetle, local woodpecker populations are doing very well. This is particularly true of Downy, Hairy, and Red-bellied woodpeckers, as well as Northern flicker and Yellow-bellied sapsucker. Pileated woodpecker numbers have also increased compared to baseline population numbers suggesting they have also benefited from the EAB infestation. Anyone who has watched a pileated woodpecker working on a tree knows they can make progress quickly as they search for food and create a cavity for nesting. This may look very destructive, but the woodpecker would not be feeding on that tree if it didn’t have food (insects) present already working on the decline of that tree.

Once primary cavity nesters have moved on and left an empty “apartment,” secondary cavity nesters move in. Many animals rely on these empty cavities, and when in short supply it can quickly impact a population, as it has with local bluebird populations who were being pushed out of possible nesting sites by invasive birds such as starlings and sparrows. Bluebird boxes, manmade “cavities,” have served as a successful conservation solution to this ecological problem. Local secondary cavity nesters include Eastern Bluebird, Tree Swallow, Black-capped Chickadee, House Wren, White-breasted Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse, Great-crested Flycatcher, Prothonotary Warbler, Brown Creeper, Wood Duck, Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser, American Kestrel, Eastern Screech Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Barred Owl, raccoons, squirrels, opossums, and porcupines. These cavities may even be used by snakes, and on rare occasions tree-roosting bats as well! This is not a complete list of those in nature that may use these cavities, but it certainly illustrates how important it is to leave dead trees standing until nature decides its time to come down. 

Of course, if a tree is a danger to life or property, decisions may have to be made to bring a dead tree down. In that case, timing is everything! Let’s keep in mind who may be living in that tree when deciding when and how to remove it. Working with nature is in the best of interest of everyone.

Article and photo by Board Chair Jan Bowman