27
November/December 2017
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THE DAVEY BULLETIN
MY DAVEY
RECONSTRUCTING A TREE FOR WOODPECKERS
Davey Utility crews reunited a nest of red-bellied
woodpecker chicks with their mother during what was
supposed to be a routine removal for their client, the city
of Winter Park, Florida.
Mark Stevens, general foreman, Winter Park account, said
his two-man crew of Aaron Rodriguez and Ramon Martinez
were finishing up the removal of a laurel oak when they
heard chirping sounds coming from inside a section of the
trunk that had already been removed.
"The mother bird was flying back and forth from a palm
tree and an oak tree nearby," he said.
Stevens called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission for advice on how to help the birds.
"They said to strap the log, that piece of wood we had
removed, back to the tree and see if the mother would
come back," Stevens said. "So we took some bailing wire
Left: Aaron Rodriguez and Ramon Martinez reconstruct a laurel
oak tree to maintain the integrity of a woodpecker nest.
Below: The mother bird returned to the nest after the Davey crew
successfully rebuilt the tree.
and wired it to the tree. It looked really awkward, but the
mother eventually did come back to the nest."
The city of Winter Park chose to leave the tree in place for
the remainder of the woodpeckers' short nesting season,
the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Dru Dennison, urban forestry manager, city of Winter Park,
said their crews are always cognizant of nesting birds
but did not hear or see any sign of the birds until this section
of the tree was on the ground.
"This was an amazing job performed by Aaron and Ramon,"
Dennison said in an email.
Stevens said essentially rebuilding a tree that had been cut
down was a first in his long career.
"The last thing I would have thought was that the mother
bird would come back," he said.
