How to climb a tree risk-free

Nuttall’s Woodpecker by Peggy Honda

To find the best answer to this question where does one go?  To a woodpecker.  After all, most woodpeckers spend virtually their entire lives spiraling up trunks and clinging upside down to limbs.  Have you ever seen one slip and fall to the ground?  Have you ever stopped to wonder why woodpeckers need no ropes, rigging and cabling, not even a helmet?!  No disrespect intended, but by comparison the birds make  professional tree climbers look like  sissies!

You may need a prop for your jaw when you discover the unique and hidden tool kit that allows woodpeckers to climb so adeptly.  No one explains their remarkable muscular and skeletal adaptations more clearly, or speaks more powerfully for these birds than Stephen Shunk.  In his recently published book, The Peterson Reference Guide to North America Woodpeckers, you’ll also find many other fascinating facts about the history, habits and habitat needs of North American woodpeckers.  Photos and illustrations add even more!

When you are finally willing to let someone borrow this treasure, please consider an arborist.  Tree care professionals are among the best candidates to become ambassadors for woodpeckers.  They can use their saws as instruments for conservation.  How?  By safely managing and retaining some dead trees and dead limbs in live trees they not only preserve habitat vital to woodpeckers but they support many other birds and wildlife.

Acorn Woodpecker by Peggy Honda