Construction Zone – Hard Heads Required

By Kenneth R. McVay

It’s nesting time again and, surprisingly enough, there’s never a dull moment. In the normal course of events, that tapping sound you hear in the distant aspen grove is nothing more than a woodpecker looking for a meal. Some species drill holes in just about anything wooden and eat whatever bugs they can find. Others, the sapsuckers, systematically drill holes into trees to tap into the cambium layer where true delicacies await, the tender inner bark and the sap. These holes are small, generally no larger than the end of a pencil eraser. Some will be randomly located (bug eaters are definitely not methodical) while the gourmets leave a pattern that is easily discernible. No matter which species is in residence, they share tastes in construction sites and methods.

The preferred neighborhood is an aspen grove or a deciduous forest with medium to tall trees at least six inches in diameter. They pick a spot that is over six foot off the ground and begin drilling with their beaks (they give new meaning to the word hardheaded) and a more

 perfect hole could not be achieved by a human with a drill. Common to all construction sites is a great deal of sawdust and building debris. Unlike humans, however, woodpeckers can’t just sweep the stuff out the door (or under the carpet). They have to remove it from their cozy little nest the hard way, a beakful at a time.

The red-naped sapsucker of the Rocky Mountains spends hours working on the nest. The doorway is about the size of a silver dollar and doesn’t require steps since sapsuckers have no problems with walking up and down the tree trunk (or hanging upside down from a limb) as well as flying in for a perfect three-point landing (or four-point landing as the case may be). It also makes it easier for a quick get away when needed. When they are finished with the nursery, they opt for medium size families (four to six youngsters is considered the norm) and settle in to wait for the blessed event. In no time at all, it’s time for around the clock feedings, babies screeching and fighting for the choicest morsels. In some neighborhoods it’s not unusual to find nurseries set up in almost every tree in the surrounding area, with a constant fetch and feed operation in motion. It’s not all that uncommon, either, to see different types of woodpeckers in a single grove of aspens.

Not to be outdone, small wrens are busy moving into last year’s woodpecker condo and refurbishing the nursery. They work together, making it place to be proud of, often asking for the other’s opinion on an interesting bit before dragging it in (or so it seems). It is not uncommon for the one left at home to be waiting at the door for their mate to arrive with a new little piece of something for the nursery. Also not uncommon, is to see the waiting wren take off as soon as their partner arrives, leaving them stranded for a time (feeling housebound, apparently, is not limited to the human species). And, like woodpecker hatchlings, wren babies have voracious appetites and healthy voices too.

It is well worth the time to spend a spring and early summer visiting aspen groves, searching for perfect round holes high in the trees and patterns made up of smaller holes. Woodpeckers and wrens are industrious workers bent on making their nurseries as comfortable and safe as possible for their offspring. They are unmatched in their construction and organizational skills.