Arkie, you and I may be "the last men standing" so to speak, regarding birding threads on Mudcat. I think you know a bunch more than I do, so am asking for your thoughts on something.

This past weekend I sadly had to have a lot of trees removed. I'm not as concerned about the narrow wind-row/thicket near the rear of the house that provided cover plus lots of bird-cherries - I can pretty quickly grow a variety of other shrubs that will provide cover and food within a few years without being so tall they threaten the house when ice-storms hit.

I am most concerned about how to compensate for the 3 maples that were taken down. One was nearly dead. The other two had extensive dead tops, which I did not realize until big parts of those tops came down in a late ice storm last spring. I have a lot of bluebirds, downy, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers who come to the feeders in my yard and when I examined the trees after they came down, there is no doubt they were prime nesting spots. I had thought until that ice storm the birds were nesting somewhere in the area but were in my yard only because of the feeders. Do you have any experience with woodpecker boxes? If so, just how high up to they have to be placed to be attractive to nesting pairs? I have a long extension ladder but am a bit phobic about height. From what I read, however, I question whether I could place them high enough on the trunks of the oaks and remaining maples using a tall step ladder. Any thoughts?