A Tree Fell In

[bluekazoo]

my backyard today .... near as I can tell, sometime between noon (when DH left for work) and 4:30 (when I took the trash out) ...

A big tree, don't know what kind it was ... it wasn't the oaks or the maple, it was just 'a big tree' ... about 60 feet tall, I paced it out this evening ... much easier to do now that it's prone ...

The past couple of years, a pileated woodpecker had been working on the base of it, and I think some kind of insects were having a feast in there, as well from the looks of it ...

It missed our house ... and the neighbor's house ... but it took out somebody's cable ... wasn't mine (we don't 'do' cable) ... anyway, tomorrow I'll have to call and have somebody come and cut it up and take it away ...

I always feel a little bad when a tree finally bites the big one ...

:1weed: < ---- only posting that cuz it's the only leafy thing I could find here in the emotes .... heh

[oddish]

That is sad Blue. Poor tree.

[krisinluck]

Those woodpeckers are wicked little shits. We have a tree behind the house (you can see it from the bathroom window) that has a HUGE hole in the side of it from that damned woodpecker. I can't hear it, but daughter can, so we've seen it going to town back there.

In our case, it's an elm tree, and the elms up here are not in great shaoe. Dutch Elm Disease and such. The woodpeckers don't seem to care much if they are diseased trees. Maybe that's what happened to your's too?

[FLvamp]

... much easier to do now that it's prone ...

... unless yer a superhero, yah ... :p

... or one a' these ---> :1akagera:

[bluekazoo]

Wow, you guys are fast!

It wasn't just one of your dumb Wisconsin woodpeckers, Kris ...

THIS was a 'pileated woodpecker' ... thing had a wingspan of a couple of feet!!! Think 'Woody' ... I got pics, even ... enormous bird!

But yeah, the tree is dead, long live the tree, I guess ...

It wasn't an elm - I remember elms from the midwest ... maybe beech? They seem to have lots of those here ... I should go out and snag a leaf off the thing before it gets hauled away, I guess ... I have a leaf book around here somewhere ...

[bluekazoo]

This is the guy, lol

http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/pileatedwoodpecker.htm#1

[toollady]

If the (wood)pecker was going at the tree, then the tree was already infested with bugs. That's what they eat.

I spotted one of those big azzed woodpeckers in our yard one day. I was so amazed by it, I went running out in my nightie to get Nick to see it. Thing had to be 3 ft tall.

Edited to add: just clicked on bluey's link and see they only get to be 15" tall. Thing looked much bigger than that.

[bluekazoo]

Aren't they amazing birds, TL?

I ran to get the camera, got a few shots, of course not real close ups or anything ...

And yeah, it had been dying for a long time ... I'd been after someone to remove it, but all they ended up doing last year was cutting away the worst half .. I'm glad now they did though, it may have hit the house if it had been completely intact ...

(I just had to peek back in when I saw you were here ... what was that I saw? you flinging smelt, eh? hahaha)

- night

[newslady]

Bleu,

Too bad on losing the tree. The other day, driving home, I saw the biggest and ugliest looking bird in a neighbor's yard. It made me do a double take, back up my car and stare at it.

Turns out it was a turkey vulture. Not sure why it was in the neighborhood unless it was feasting on something deceased nearby.

[Heartland]

Sorry about your tree, Bluey. I hate to see trees down. My old neighborhood lost several blocks' worth of mature trees two years in a row to tornadoes (luckily missed my street).

Newsy, I didn't know we had turkey vultures here! How strange. Aren't they the ones you always see circling the dying guy in the desert?

I think the pileated woodpeckers are extinct in our state, although I read something about a recent sighting that's being disputed. I see the little ones all the time. I used to put suet out for them so they'd leave the trees alone.

[newslady]

Turkey vulture:

http://usparks.about.com/library/photos/raptors/blphotos-raptors_turkeyvulture1.htm

[foptiludrop]

Too bad about your tree, Kazoo. Did ya ever identify what kind it was?

[krisinluck]

Yo, Bluey...that wasn't any tiny little dude hacking at the tree behind the house. It was big and looked a lot like your 'pileated woodpecker' ... I looked online at various woodpeckers (thanks to this thread...like I don't have more important things I should be doin' here) and that's the one.

The link you put up? The holes in that tree in the picture? The one behind the house looks like that - only there's just one, and it's huge. I'll try to get a picture...

[kim]

darn - i love trees...

one of ours fell a few years ago - snowstorm knocked it over...

that was along the back - at least we still had shade in the back part of the yard - from all the bushes - which - used - to be there - until our old neighbors cut them all down - grrr - and then - promptly sold their house and moved away - double grrr - now all the shade we have is the tree nearer to the house - a big wonderful tree - that the - other - neighbor - keeps marking with a big orange marker - trying to establish the property line - that tree is ours - damn it - they - want to cut it down - i have to keep going out there - to stop them...

- my tree i love it...

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- edited missing dash...

[foptiludrop]

- edited missing dash...
:1rotfl2: You are crackin' me up today! :1rotfl2:

[Emily]

I had one of those woodpeckers here this spring...had never seen one that big before. :1akagera:

[paleryder]

It wasn't just one of your dumb Wisconsin woodpeckers, Kris ... :1rotfl1:

[Bastet]

I am sorry about your tree, Kazooey. It is sad to lose a tree. We had a wonderful, huge tree in our front yard. Several years ago, it started to split. Half of it was headed toward our house. We had to have it cut down. I cried. I loved that tree.