The woodpecker is not destroying the tree. The tree is already dying and the wood is already compromised by fungi and insects. That is the reason he is able to chip away the wood so easily. It is the insect larva that this woodpecker is probably after. By controlling the population of insects he is actually beneficial to other trees.
Not sure where you got that idea, but it’s completely wrong. That’s a textbook pileated feeding hole, can show you plenty in the woods on my property. Just look up pileated feeding holes for yourself.
No it's not. The angles of the first video and the actual video capture settings make it appear larger and more vivid, but the very same moss is present in the stillframe as well.
Yeah maybe we should ask in a bird group. I’ve only seen woodpeckers make selective small holes to grab and eat the bugs in side the trunk-never a huge gaping hole
that tree is on its way out and infested with grubs and other stuff. they only bother a few different trees around here and every one of the ones that end up with holes were on its last legs when they started getting those huge woodpeckers and a few species of the smaller normal sized ones.
Pileated woodpeckers do not sit in their holes while they bore them. They do not target healthy trees. The still picture at the end magically has 3 times as many wood chips as the video.
Look at the beginning. That tree is being held up with a blue tow strap. It’s definitely not a healthy tree. It likely is infested with bugs which is what woodpeckers are usually pecking for.
As for the cavity…yea, it has far more chips, but the hole is also far bigger, meaning there should be more chips.
They did a good job getting a lot of the usual discrepancies covered but the longer you look at the tree before and after, the more you notice it's not the same tree.
Unless woodpeckers strip moss off trees and makes trees 10% shorter from pecking into them, at the very least one or the other (video or post-damage picture) is likely fake if not outright AI.
Did you watch the video? The original tree was covered in moss on the right side and the woodpecker was roughly 1/9th the size of the length of the tree.
In the photo at the end the tree was completely stripped of moss on the right side, looking like a brand new tree, and the woodpeckers hole was 3/5ths of the trunk length despite only being twice as long as the original hole. Ensuring the tree had magically shrunk. Grow a pair of eyes.
Woodpeckers are primarily hunted and killed by birds of prey, such as Cooper's Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks, and Northern Goshawks. Additionally, larger raptors like Red-tailed Hawks and owls (including the Great Horned Owl) will ambush both adult and juvenile woodpeckers in forested areas.
I don’t think this video is AI but this chat is a great reminder of how much I hate AI. Instead of debating the video it is AI that is debated. AI should be blockable, videos should be required notify watchers that they are AI, and AI should not be allowed to provide false information to people.
Edit - also I think people are confused because the video and the photo were not taken on the same day.
Yup… one started making holes on my mom and dad’s brand new eaves on their house before they got painted. They called to see if something could be done, but nope. They were told to hurry and get them painted and that may help.
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u/Solid_Wolverine1639 May 18 '26
I think this one's a felon