In fact, certain types of woodpeckers, including the yellow-bellied sapsucker, drill holes into trees looking not for bugs but for delicious tree sap instead (just like the bird's name would suggest).

A large live oak can spread up to 60 feet wide. Yep, those straight rows or columns of holes in the trunks and limbs of your tree are compliments of the pretty sapsucker woodpecker.

Rows of small, round holes in vertical lines in wooden structures like siding, tree trunks, or fences, are likely caused by woodpeckers. The holes are typically about the size of a quarter.

Occasionally homeowners will notice small holes in the trunks of landscape trees. This may not mean impending death to the tree, but it’s not good. The presence of holes usually means that an insect ...

Above: bark borers attacked and killed this evergreen tree. Photo by John E. Woodmansee Occasionally, homeowners will notice small holes in the trunks of landscape trees. This may not mean impending ...

— John N. A: The holes in the trunk are made by sapsucker woodpeckers that make a series of holes in neat rows in tree trunks. The holes fill with sap, which the birds then drink.

The birds will also consume the insects that are also attracted to the oozing sap. The yellow-bellied sapsucker is very habitual in nature, pecking “sample” holes to find a tree it likes. Once ...

Red-cockaded woodpecker. Eric Spadgenske/USFWS Red-cockaded woodpeckers, Picoides borealis, are the only birds that excavate cavities in living pine trees.

Do they hurt anything? You bet they do. This woodpecker, also called red-headed sapsucker, is attractive but a real menace. Its damage can kill limbs, trunks or entire trees.

The apple tree trunk is only about 12 inches in diameter, and I wonder if this nest will weaken the tree. The hole is only about 3 feet off ground level, which doesn’t seem very high up.

If the holes you are seeing are arranged in more or less circular, geometrical patterns, then they are caused by yellow-bellied sapsuckers, a secretive, migratory woodpecker that passes through ...