Woodpecker problems

I have what I'm pretty sure is a Downy woodpecker (could be REd-headed woodpecker) coming and pecking lines of little holes on my Chinese elm trees. He's been up to this for about 3 days now. I see sap running down the trunk all day. As soon as one set of holes dries up, he goes and makes another set. I thought it was a sap-sucker at first by the way the holes were all in lines and rows--that's how the sap-suckers do it. But then I saw the bird. I'm not sure what he's after, as the Chinese elms don't have the sticky sap that can trap bugs. I'm concerned that his pecking may kill my trees. On one hand, then I wouldn't have to pluck 1000s of seedlings from the lawn in spring, but on the other, I stand to loose two nice shade trees! Any ideas on how to get him to find another place to peck??? I know they can be persistent little things.

Upon closer inspection, I IDed this fellow as a yellow-bellied sap sucker. I'm not sure what he's getting out of my elms, but he sure seems to like it. He's been out there again today. I can see the sap running down the trunk of my tree. I sure wish he'd find somewhere else to peck!

Good luck...my sycamore looks like it was hit with buckshot and the red bellied woodpeckers have enlarged the holes on every one of my bluebird houses.

There's a old pecan (I'm told) tree down the street from us wrapped in aluminum flashing to keep the woodpeckers away. We call it the tin man and use it for a landmark. I guess it works...

GInger, is the tree still alive? Mine looks like it was hit with buckshot now, too. I wonder if putting a plastic owl in the tree would fix his wagon?

Yes so far the tree is still alive. There's another one..don't know what..that has died. The owl might help...worth a try.

Now that I *finally* got my act together and scanned in my pictures, I will share a picture of the little culprit in action (a yellow-bellied sapsucker).

Here's some of the damage he's done to the tree trunk. He hasn't been back (knock on wood!) since January and the holes are healing a little bit.

Wow, he was a busy little bird
We don't have those here. Are they related to woodpeckers?

I looked on Google and found that they are a woodpecker lol
Thanks for posting about this, I missed it in January

http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i4020id.html

i just found this one as well

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/howtos/ht_sap/sap.htm

This message was edited Monday, Jul 21st 2:00 AM

I learned something new myself on those links. I didn't know they would stay with a particular tree for several years. Supposedly they don't kill the trees by doing this, but it sure looks funny. This little feathered friend obviously was happy tapping away at the trunks of my chinese elms. Every morning for about 6 weeks, I'd get up and see the wet trunks from the sapsucker tapping new holes in the tree. Haven't seen it since Feb., so it must've moved on.