Increase in Woodpecker Populations Linked to Feasting on Emerald Ash Borer

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/news/release/woodpeckers-and-eab

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Increase in Woodpecker Populations Linked to Feasting on Emerald Ash Borer[/font]

[font size=3] MORGANTOWN, WV, August 8, 2013 - The scourge of forests, the emerald ash borer, or EAB, is usually described with words like “destructive” and “pest.” A recent study based on data collected by citizen scientists suggests that one more adjective might apply, at least from a bird’s perspective: “delicious.”

In a study published this week in the journal Biological Invasions, U.S. Forest Service entomologist Andrew Liebhold and Cornell University scientist Walter Koenig and others document how an EAB invasion fueled a population boom for four species of birds in the Detroit area.

The four species of birds considered in the study “Effects of the emerald ash borer invasion on four species of birds” included three woodpeckers that are known to forage on EAB-infested ash trees – the downy woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker – as well as the white-breasted nuthatch, a common bark-gleaning species that is also a potential predator of EAB. All four species are cavity-nesters and also stand to benefit from an increase in nesting habitat as trees are killed by EAB.

“The emerald ash borer has been massively destructive because most North American ash trees have little or no defense against it,” Liebhold said. “We can take heart that native woodpecker species are clearly figuring out that EAB is edible, and this new and widely abundant food source appears to be enhancing their reproduction.”

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[Xipe Totec]

1. Man is ticked off, but mother nature is just fine with it. nt

[LiberalEsto]

2. If only some bird species would learn to devour Japanese beetles like that

The beetles have feasted on my roses all summer, while the catbirds denuded the blueberry bushes and are now busy getting every blackberry the nanosecond it ripens.

[Kolesar]

5. I have had some success with "milky spore"

st gabriel

I use the type formulated for a "drop spreader". I have used it twice. I had heard that the beetles had developed a resistance to it, but I have seen few Japanese beetles in the last two summers since applying it in fall of 2011.

http://www.stgl.us/gstore/productcart/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=44

[LiberalEsto]

6. I've done Milky Spore AND sprayed nematodes designed to kill the grubs.

There was a temporary reduction after the milky spore, but for only a couple of years, and the nematodes had no effect at all.

[Kolesar]

7. My wife plucks them off the leaves and drowns them in soapy water

After that, the only fix I know is pesticides on the lawn that can kill the birds that find the dead beetles.
I suspect that milky spore worked for us because of the good fortune of different weather conditions.

My book by the "buggy professsor" Myles H. Bader has a solution of hydrated lime and a bit of alum that can be sprayed on the leaves. He also recommends those traps.

1 pound of lime
5 ounces of alum
10 gallons of water
Keep it away from animals and humans, it's "poisonous" if ingested.

"Club the Bugs and Scare the Critters" by Myles H. Bader

[Frustratedlady]

3. The Ash Borer was just found in our area a couple weeks ago...

The ash was one of the trees that were donated to local citizens when the elm disease took many of our trees. Now, those will be removed, as well.

I'll trade the ash borer for woodpeckers, any day. I have a flicker that likes to peck on the metal cap to my chimney. Talk about a wake-up call.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. We love the increased woodpecker populations

I'm kind of sad to see that apparently that means we have a healthy EAB population.
http://www.nyis.info/?action=eab