Hairy Woodpeckers manage our carpenter bees, here.
Our open country is not ideal habitat for Hairys, but we still see them at the
suet with some regularity. Our first realization that they were here came,
years ago, with a gentle tap-tap-tap on our deck frame, which we have reported
in the past. It was reliable and consistent enough that, upon hearing the
tapping, someone would call out “The Hairy is here again!”
We eventually realized that they were chiseling to get to the carpenter bee
larvae, in the wood structure. We have always puzzled about how (or why) they
would know that there’s carpenter bees under there!?
A few weeks ago, we noticed piles of sawdust under one of the Adirondack
chairs, on the front porch. The bees tend to make their openings underneath,
so, as long as the chairs don’t collapse, we’re not too concerned and didn’t
think much of it.
Then, yesterday, Katie was working in the living room, near that porch wall,
and heard the familiar tap-tap. She peeked through the window-blind and found
a female Hairy, just a few feet away, working the underside of one of chair
armrests. Katie managed a bunch of photos, with her phone, and I attached a
couple to our eBird list, for yesterday (Link below). The bird would retrieve a
grub, then scramble to the flat-top of the arm to eat it, then scramble back
underneath to find another.
Again, how or why…would she know there are carpenter bees tunneling in our
Adirondack chairs? We are fascinated by this.
https://ebird.org/checklist/S70792978
Stephen Tyson, Schochoh, Logan Co.
