Tree / Insect issue?

Sigarms · Oct 12, 2008

The first pic is what caught my attention to look closer. Shavings from the tree at the base. Most of them were blown away due to some heavy winds.

Small holes in a circular patern going around the tree.

Almost looked like flying ants when I saw them (didn't have the camera with me at the time and it may be too cold now where I'm not seeing anything moving).

Anyone have an idea of what type of "pest" I'm looking at?

Hate to admit this, don't even know how long it's been going on.

tallyho8 · Oct 12, 2008

I'm not sure but those holes could be woodpecker holes made when eating termites in the tree.

Sigarms · Oct 12, 2008

tallyho8 said:
I'm not sure but those holes could be woodpecker holes made when eating termites in the tree.

I thought the exact same thing, but the darn thing is I usually don't see any woodpeckers around these particular trees.

kenmac · Oct 12, 2008

I've seen some type bumble bees that bore holes in wood. Don't know about trees

SnowRidge · Oct 12, 2008

kenmac said:
I've seen some type bumble bees that bore holes in wood. Don't know about trees

When those bees first showed up on nature's scene, there was some other kind of wood?

You must be talking about carpenter bees, but those don't look like carpenter bee holes.

sunspot · Oct 12, 2008

The holes look like they are from the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. A woodpecker that eats tree sap.

All About Birds: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

dmccarty · Oct 13, 2008

Bird Peck's.

Later,
Dan

jinman · Oct 13, 2008

While it looks like sapsucker holes to me, it also might be pine borers. The holes in your tree are lined up, looking like sapsucker holes. Pine borers normally have more random holes. Both the sapsucker attack and pine borers indicates a tree in stess. The stressed tree produces more sugars and attracts pests.

Here is a link to info on borers and some photos. Click on the number on the left of the page to bring up the image. If you see bugs that look like this, they could be your problem or at least part of it. I think pine borers are a problem in southern white pine. A Goggle search for pine borer will get you lots of hits.

Pine Borers