What in the Woods Is That?

Play our biweekly guessing game!

Whatever draws us into the forest—be it birdwatching or logging, hiking or hunting—all of us are unified by the sense of wonder we feel in the outdoors. The forests, fields, and streams of our region are full of mystery, and if you stop and look closely, you’ll see all sorts of oddities.

Below find a picture of one such woodlands curio. Guess what it is and you’ll be eligible to win a Northern Woodlands woodpecker magnet designed by artist Liz Wahid. A prize winner will be drawn at random from all the correct entries. The correct answer, and the winner’s name, will appear when the next column is posted and in our newsletter (sign up here!).

Riddle of the Riddled Wood

A decaying log in central Vermont contained this strange landscape. What happened here?

Answer

This is the work of carpenter ants. As noted by Eiseman and Charney in Tracks & Signs of Insects and other Invertebrates, “carpenter ant galleries are characterized by their complexity, with series of chambers excavated for eggs, larvae and pupae.” They don’t eat wood, so a telltale sign of their presence is fine sawdust at the base of a tree. Another sign of the ants’ presence: pileated woodpecker holes.

This week’s contest winner was Becky Linton