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Please Don’t Poison Me or Take Away My Food

Posted on March 16, 2026 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island Leave a comment

(Dryocopus pileatus) Pileated Woodpecker

This post is for the folks living on San Juan Island and in San Juan County, but also for the wider PNW area. After seeing multiple posts this morning about Carpenter Ants showing up, and I personally have seen three or four Carpenter Ants in our house this past week (Camponotus vicinus), I felt compelled to do a write-up that can be shared more easily into social media groups and read by those who aren’t on social media sites.

It is the time of year when you may see activity in your own home. Don’t freak out. Their appearance does not mean you have an infestation, but if you see one crawling around on the floor or wall, you should use this as a sign to check around your home carefully. Annual inspections are an important part of caring for your home and investment.

Once upon a time, we found issues in our own home. There were carpenter ants in the wood trim around our skylight. Our roof had been leaking for some time and that rotted the wood. I told my husband one morning that I could HEAR them chewing. I could. They were up there munching away. He got a ladder, removed the wood trim, and then danced like he was at a rave. I’m surprised, and thankful, he didn’t fall off the ladder. The entire colony dumped out onto his head. They were biting him and spraying him with formic acid. Fortunately, I had the shop vac handy. Once we vacuumed them up and he replaced the wood and fixed the roof leak, we have been ant-free (almost 10 years now).

In your home, I recommend inspecting for water leaks, repairing them, and replacing any rotten or damp wood. If you have trees or vegetation overhanging and touching your home, trim this back. Avoid leaving stacks of firewood near or against your home. Also, avoid mulching near your foundation. Fix any areas near your yard where water is not draining properly and seeps back towards your foundation . Keep the humidity low in your home, especially in basement areas. If you can’t do this yourself and you live in San Juan County, I do recommend calling Paul at San Juan Pest Control (360) 378-2941- who can check all the things I just recommended. In my experience, Paul has been careful about minimizing use of pesticides or baits. Please, please, do not go to the home store and pick your poisons out and apply them yourself. If you won’t consider any alternatives I’ve suggested here, at least get a professional to help you with this.

You might ask, “Why are you so against toxic baits and chemicals?” Well, aside from the dangers of using pesticides in your home for yourself and your pets, they are highly toxic to wildlife. These toxic chemicals or baits go through the food chain, impacting non-target species.

For instance, the diet of our beautiful Pileated Woodpecker species is comprised of 54-60% carpenter ants. They will be feeding nestlings soon, as will other bird species that utilize ants for food. Applying pesticides can impact these birds directly through the poisons going through the food chain or by removing their food source. We want to protect our structures, but also need the reminder to protect our avian neighbors. Just as you don’t want to go hungry and starve, neither do they.

Violet Green Tree Swallow with Camponotus modoc Carpenter Ant

I guess I should go a bit further here in my ecology connection. If we are feeding the birds, why do we need to worry about ants or other bugs in the first place? Bird seed and suet cakes, and even sugar water solution for hummingbirds, provides them with a supplementary food source when they need extra energy. Supplementing with feed can help birds before leaving, or after arriving from a long migration, after a winter season when food sources decline or are scarce or harder to access. Supplementing with feeders can also provide them with extra calories before they begin nesting, or if they are compromised in some other way.

Feeding birds, however, is primarily for our entertainment. We feed them because we appreciate nature and bird watching. Suet, seeds, and sugar water are not their main diet components though. Especially not for baby birds that need protein sources.

Birds need BUGS. Even hummingbirds feed their baby birds bugs. Spiders are a favorite because baby birds need taurine, an amino acid necessary for brain development. Spiders are a source of taurine.

All birds need essential minerals, amino acids, and vitamins that aren’t found in bird seed, suet, and sugars. They will visit sources of sap, nectar, and forage in tree stumps, standing dead snags, under rocks, in the soil, and all through the leaves and twigs of our trees. I’ve seen hummingbirds taking small insects and spiders from beneath the eaves of our home. The “environment,” or what little remains that has not been altered, degraded, or poisoned by humans, is literally the “grocery store” for wildlife. Wildlife, including birds and even other insects or spiders are nature’s best pest control. Let’s make sure we protect them and acknowledge their value in choosing how we live.

References and Further Reading ***noting here that Carpenter Ants also provide valuable pest control for species of insects that defoliate our fruit and forest trees! ***

Akre, R. D., L. D. Hansen, and E. A. Myhre. 1995. My house or yours? The biology of carpenter ants. Am. Entomol. Soc. 41:221–226.

Bull, E. L. 1987. Ecology of the pileated woodpecker in northeastern Oregon. Journal of Wildlife Management 51: 472–481.

Bull, E. L., R. C. Beckwith, and R. S. Holthausen. 1992a. Arthropod diet of pileated woodpeckers in northeastern Oregon. Northwestern Naturalist 73: 42–45.

Bull, E. L., C. G. Parks, and T. R. Torgersen. 1997. Trees and logs important to wildlife in the Interior Columbia River Basin. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report PNW-GTR-391, Portland, Oregon, USA.

Campbell, R.W., and T.R.Torgersen.1982. Some effects of predaceous ants on western spruce budworm pupae in north central Washington.
Environ. Entomol. 11:111-114.

Cruz, A., and D.W. Johnston. 1979. Occurrence and feeding ecology of the common flicker on Grand Cayman Island. Condor 81:370-375.

Furniss, R. L., and V. M. Carolin. 1977. Western forest insects. U.S. Forest Service Miscellaneous Publication number 1339, Washington, D.C., USA.

Hansen, L. D., and R. D. Akre. 1985. Biology of carpenter ants in Washington State (Hymenoptera:Formicidae:Camponotus). Melanderia. Volume 43. Washington State Entomological Society, Pullman, Washington, USA.

Hansen, L. D., and A. L. Antonelli. 2005. Carpenter ants: their biology and control. Washington State University Extension Bulletin 0818, Pullman, Washington, USA.

Hansen, L. D., and J. H. Klotz. 2005. Carpenter Ants of the United States and Canada. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.

Mankowski, M. 2001. Biology of the Carpenter Ants Camponotus vicinus (Mayr) and Camponotus modoc(Wheeler) in Western Oregon. Ph.D. dissertation, Oregon State University, Corvallis.

Mannan, R. W. 1984. Summer area requirements of pileated woodpeckers in western Oregon. Wildlife Society Bulletin 12: 265–268.

RALEY, C.M. and AUBRY, K.B. (2006), Foraging Ecology of Pileated Woodpeckers in Coastal Forests of Washington. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 70: 1266-1275. https://doi.org/10.2193/0022-541X(2006)70[1266:FEOPWI]2.0.CO;2

Ramsay, S.L. and Houston, D.C. (2003), Amino acid composition of some woodland arthropods and its implications for breeding tits and other passerines. Ibis, 145: 227-232. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1474-919X.2003.00133.x

Torgersen, T. R., and E. L. Bull. 1995. Down logs as habitat for forest-dwelling ants—the primary prey of pileated woodpeckers in northeastern Oregon. Northwest Science 69: 294–303.

Torgersen, T.R., R. R. Mason, and H.G. Paul. 1983. Predation on pupae of Douglas-fir tussock moth, Orgyia pseudotsugata (McDunnough) (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae). Environ. Entomol. 12:1678-1682.

University Of Glasgow. “Super Spiders Make Bolder Birds.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 August 2007. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070824220328.htm

Bird notes 🎶

Posted on May 29, 2024 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island Leave a comment

Something happened in the yard yesterday afternoon. We have a fruitless cherry tree in a cage that I didn’t plant. At least I think it’s a fruitless cherry tree. It sort of popped up on its own.

In the beginning, I didn’t really want it there, so I cut it down – a few times. It kept coming back, intent on sticking around. A couple of years ago, I just stopped trying to get rid of it. I even put a little cage around it. That was actually for the juncos that built a nest in the grass below that little tree though, to keep them safe from the mower.

Aside from me personally whacking it down a few times, the little tree has suffered other adversities. It has been attacked by cherry slugs (sawfly larvae). They ate its leaves.

It has had a few tent caterpillars munching too. One year that it was super dry, it lost its leaves and I thought it was dead. Only it came back again. I started to pay more attention to this little tree, even watering it in the summer. It’s not very tall, but this year it looks more healthy than ever before.

Last year, I noticed in the spring that it put out these cool little red bumps on the stem just above the leaf.

Formica ascerva ant at extrafloral nectaries

Those little bumps soon had little red and black ants visiting. I learned the red bumps are extrafloral nectaries. They produce nectar that attracts pollinators to the tree. I haven’t seen any flowers, so I’m not sure what would be pollinated. Maybe the tree isn’t old enough yet. I’m still learning. I sure need to figure out if I’m right that it’s a fruitless cherry.

Well, the other thing that is interesting is shortly after the little red bumps attract the red and black ants, there are little black aphids. I’ve seen this for 2 years in a row now. The ants tend those little aphid flocks like sheep. They are guarding them in exchange for the sugary honey dew the aphids produce.

The aphids and the ants seem to multiply. I have seen 2 or 3 ants per leaf with aphids. Not all the leaves have aphids, but maybe 1/3 of the tree does, and each guarded by the ants. The ants are Formica ascerva species.

They are interesting in their own right because aside from guarding the “sheep,” they also are fierce warriors, driving away (and killing) the large Camponotus sp. carpenter ants that try to invade every spring.

This colony of Formica ants lives under a bedroom of our home. They are welcome to stay since they don’t eat wood.

Today, when I looked out the window though, I saw something challenging the fearsome Formica ants. There were birds inside the tree caging and they were hungrily pecking and even tearing at the leaves with aphids. I grabbed and clumsily set up my camera to video the scene.

Birds attacking aphids farmed by Formica ascerva ants

I saw finches first, then there was a chickadee, and even a hummingbird. I thought I saw bumble bees, but they wouldn’t have been eating the aphids. Perhaps they were visiting the extrafloral nectaries or maybe even sipping honeydew produced by the aphids, but I wasn’t close enough to be certain.

Afterwards, I went out to survey the damage. I saw one leaf with lots of shreds. Aphid parts scattered about. Ants wandering somewhat aimlessly. Another leaf had an ant that died courageously in battle protecting his little flock.

I wanted to share my observations with you because a lot of folks really dislike aphids. Others also dislike ants and don’t understand their role in nature’s ecosystems. Maybe this will help others to understand there are a lot of hungry birds that eat aphids (and ants). Without them, the birds might not find enough food to feed their nestlings. It’s all part of the cycle of life.

If you see aphids your garden that you are worried about, you can mitigate some of their feeding damage by hanging a hummingbird feeder nearby. The hummingbirds have to have protein along with all that carbohydrate sugar water and they will most certainly find your aphids delicious. In fact, insects and spiders make up about 85 % of the diet of hummingbirds. Birds need bugs. And not all ants are pests. Some are extremely beneficial. I challenge you to take up bird and bug watching. You will not be disappointed!

Thanks for reading!

Below are more images of the birds feeding on the aphids inside the caged tree.

References and further reading

Bentley, B. L. (1977). Extrafloral Nectaries and Protection by Pugnacious Bodyguards. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 8, 407–427. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2096735

Bugguide. 2024. Formica Ascerva. https://bugguide.net/node/view/497956

What does Woody eat in the Forest?

Posted on August 15, 2023 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island One comment

Posting a few photos of our resident Pileated woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus) . This is Dad, “Woody,” and “Junior.”

Junior, 2023 offspring of our Pilated Woodpeckers (*Dryocopus pileatus*)

What do they eat? While they are indeed visiting our suet blocks during their reproductive season and will also come by in the winter when food is scarce, the actual diets of a Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) or other species of woodpeckers are comprised of many of the wood-boring, tunneling, and wood-eating invertebrates that help forests stay healthy.

How could an insect (or an insect-eating bird) that bores into trees be good for a tree? As the saying goes, “sometimes it is hard to see the forest for the trees.” While this is complicated due to climate change, our narrow views tend to see herbivory or holes in a tree, and even a dying tree as a bad thing.

We have to step back to understand the whole picture – which is – a dynamic process. A healthy ecosystem is not static, but one of renewal and regeneration, always changing. The wood boring bugs that are eating inside a tree are (typically) part of the early breakdown stages of a tree that is already dying. As they tunnel and bore though the dying tree, they help decompose the dying parts, releasing nutrients back into the system for new trees and other organisms to grow.

Compared to a human lifespan, this is not a rapid process, but an ongoing, multi-generational one that sustains many other organisms over a vast period of time. In a nutshell, the birds, like these woodpeckers, take advantage of the dying trees hosting wood boring beetle larvae and other wood-eating or wood-tunneling bugs. As the beetles, and ants, or termites tunnel, chew, or eat through a tree, they attract and feeds other organisms that feed on the insects. The insects and the birds leave behind sawdust and frass which is, in turn, broken down by other organisms – earthworms, millipedes, centipedes, etc. In actuality, the processes at hand are far more complicated, but in a nutshell, healthy ecosystems include death.

When you walk out onto your property and see a dying tree, don’t necessarily see it as a bad thing. Watch for a while. Are the woodpeckers pecking holes? The tree may not fall over for many, many years. As it dies, it will host so many various lives: from spiders in tiny crevices, beautiful moths (often unseen, but important pollinators), iridescent beetles that will emerge from some of those tunnels, woodpeckers, cavity nesting birds, including owls that need a sheltered place to rest and rear young. Just maybe, if you consider these things, you will refrain from taking down and chipping or burning that “dying” or “dead” tree and leave it to stand many years instead. When it does finally fall, perhaps you will consider leaving it to decompose on the forest floor where it will continue to host the lives of many organisms that are necessary and good for a healthy and balanced ecosystem. Nature will thank you. The San Juan Islands are a special place. Let’s not turn our home into a mainland suburbia.

*Fun fact: The diets of Pileated Woodpeckers are known to be comprised of 85% carpenter ants. Re-think your decision to put insecticidal baits out around your property. Those stumps are the equivalent of a grocery store or local co-op for these birds. Leave them to decompose naturally.

References

Bull, E. L. (1987). Ecology of the pileated woodpecker in northeastern Oregon. The Journal of wildlife management, 472-481.

Raley, C.M. and Aubry, K.B. 2006, Foraging Ecology of Pileated Woodpeckers in Coastal Forests of Washington. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 70: 1266-1275. https://doi.org/10.2193/0022-541X(2006)70%5B1266:FEOPWI%5D2.0.CO;2