When my husband and I bought our lake house in the fall, we knew we had some unwanted building going on. We hadn’t seen the beaver yet, but from the sizes of the holes that were in a stand of evergreens on the side of the property, we knew we had (alongside our numerous songbirds) a pileated woodpecker in the neighbourhood.

If you don’ t know what that is, imagine Woody Woodpecker. That huge cartoon bird was clearly based on the enormous woodpecker pictured here. Unlike the cute hairy and downy woodpeckers, this guy can measure up to 20 inches long. And he’s destructive. We had holes in the trees that measured a foot in length and six inches wide.

Now, it’s not entirely his fault. He’s after the bugs that are living in dead and dying trees. Through the winter we saw him at work, and during every wind storm we held our collective breath.

In May, we had an arborist out, who confirmed what we already knew. Four big trees had to go. Two were  already dead and the other two were on their way out. Given that, we also gave the company the green light to clear out all the smaller trees and brush in the same area. That work took place in early June.

It was quite a day. My mother and I sat and watched them all day, marvelling at their sure-footedness and speed as they climbed trees, cut limbs, took them all away and threw it into the chipper. We watched them lasso one of the dead trees and with a few chainsaw cuts near the bottom, pull it down – almost exactly where they’d planned.

The property looks so different now. It’s opened up, and our cedar hedges will now get the light they need to recover properly from an ice storm two winters ago. Now the only question is what to do with the space!

Ok, maybe there are two questions – should I write a muscled tree climber into one of my next novels? Let me know in the comments!