Green woodpecker-types of trees used for nesting? (2 Viewers)

[Mossmachine]

Hi all,

New to the forum, so firstly hello from me!

We have a fairly large back garden and are privileged to have a green woodpecker regularly visit our lawn. We've not long moved into this house and I noticed right away the lawn was full of ants and insects-which must be perfect for green woodpeckers.

However my neighbour would like to fell a large (over 15 metres high) Deodar cedar tree which sits on the boundary of our house-although the trunk is in his garden.

So, I was wondering if anyone knows if this tree is likely to be a good nesting site for green woodpeckers in which case we should try and prevent him from felling it? Or do they prefer more secluded woodland spots for nesting in which case we shouldn't be too concerned?

Many thanks all!

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum. I hope you enjoy your visits.

It is possible that the woodpecker may use it as a nesting site, but I don't think that will be enough to persuade your neighbour not to fell the tree. I don't think you need to be too concerned about the bird.

Here is a link about green woodpeckers which you may find interesting.

Eurasian Green Woodpecker - BirdForum Opus

www.birdforum.net

 

[dantheman]

Agree, hard to know - although you might notice a nesting hole if there was one.

Do they have good reason for felling the tree, or is it just excessive tidying/taking over a bit?

You also don't want to really annoy your neighbours from the offset!

Yes, and welcome to BF!

 

[Mono]

Have a read of this

https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V87/V87_N06/V87_N06_P253_269_A067.pdf

 

[delia todd]

Hi Mossmachine and a warm welcome from all the Staff and Moderators.

Green Woodpeckers mostly use dead or dying trees, often the likes of Aspen or Poplar, for excavating their nest holes, at heights between 2-12 meters.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

 

[Hauksen]

Hi Delia,

Green Woodpeckers mostly use dead or dying trees, often the likes of Aspen or Poplar, for excavating their nest holes, at heights between 2-12 meters.

Not according to the article Mono just posted

Green and Great Spotted nested equally frequently in live and dead wood (x2 = 1.18; n.s.), Lesser Spotted more often using decayed wood (x2 = 32.73; p<0.01)

Green Woodpecker, Total nests: 213
NATURE OF WOOD: Mature/live 117 (54.9%), Dead/decaying 96 (45.1%)

Regards,

Henning

 

[delia todd]

Hi Delia,



Not according to the article Mono just posted



Regards,

Henning

I got this from the Birds of the World Site

Nest excavated often at 2–10 m, sometimes to 12 m, in dead or soft living wood in unbroken tree (e.g. Populus favoured in Norway),

 

[MiddleRiver]

Great article, thanks for posting. I'd love to see equivalent for US...

 

[Hauksen]

Hi,

I got this from the Birds of the World Site

Fascinating! The article linked by Mono shows 3 out of 243 Green Woodpecker nests in Populus, but 54 in oak (Quercus) ... the most popular tree in the list actually, and rather hard wood I believe. Of course, that's for the UK, not for Norway!

Personally, I've only once seen a pair of woodpecker build a nest - in the strongest trunk of a large and healthy willow. They were working in shifts, and it was interesting to see how the relieving bird briefly always called the working one shortly before turning up at the building site!

They did't return to the nest in the next year - considering that they had spend weeks into building the nest, I presume not re-using it was a great sign of fitness!

Regards,

Henning

 

[Mossmachine]

Wow, thanks so much everyone!

Really interesting, there's soooo much in that article that Mono posted.. It'll take me a while to digest it! It does suggest though that green woodpeckers prefer deciduous trees rather than a conifer like a cedar. That piece of information on its own helps a lot and makes me think we don't have to worry too much about this bird. It seems like a nesting site would be quite easy to spot from ground level too so I'll take a look tomorrow.

The reason the neighbour wants to fell the tree is so he can build 2 houses in place of the one house there at the moment (the gardens are fairly large by modern standards). We don't really have an issue with that specifically as it won't really bother us. But we do get quite a few different visitors to the garden and so we're quite sad about the tree as it must be home to a lot of wildlife. There are other trees but none at the height of this one.

"Our woody" was back again this afternoon, he or she spent at least 20 minutes foraging through the grass again (we don't know how long he was there before we saw him). Managed to get a couple of quick pics with the wife's iPhone-it's through glass so not the best.


Since moving here we're getting a large range of wildlife to the garden and we're only just beginning to start identifying the birds as I've never really been into it-this one was clearly a standout visitor and I think I'll enjoy identifying more over the coming months.

So thanks again everyone, especially Mono for such an enlightening article!

 

[dantheman]

Wow, thanks so much everyone!

Really interesting, there's soooo much in that article that Mono posted.. It'll take me a while to digest it! It does suggest though that green woodpeckers prefer deciduous trees rather than a conifer like a cedar. That piece of information on its own helps a lot and makes me think we don't have to worry too much about this bird. It seems like a nesting site would be quite easy to spot from ground level too so I'll take a look tomorrow.

The reason the neighbour wants to fell the tree is so he can build 2 houses in place of the one house there at the moment (the gardens are fairly large by modern standards). We don't really have an issue with that specifically as it won't really bother us. But we do get quite a few different visitors to the garden and so we're quite sad about the tree as it must be home to a lot of wildlife. There are other trees but none at the height of this one.

"Our woody" was back again this afternoon, he or she spent at least 20 minutes foraging through the grass again (we don't know how long he was there before we saw him). Managed to get a couple of quick pics with the wife's iPhone-it's through glass so not the best.
View attachment 1425806

Since moving here we're getting a large range of wildlife to the garden and we're only just beginning to start identifying the birds as I've never really been into it-this one was clearly a standout visitor and I think I'll enjoy identifying more over the coming months.

So thanks again everyone, especially Mono for such an enlightening article!

Once it's down, think about planting something of your own on your side perhaps ... ;-)

 

[delia todd]

Timing the felling of the tree will have to be planned as he could be breaking the law if there's any birds nesting in it.

Also it's possible there's a tree preservation order on it. So he could be in a bit of trouble if he doesn't take care.

 

[delia todd]

Once it's down, think about planting something of your own on your side perhaps ... ;-)

Preferably native