I copied this article from the Mount Pisgah newsletter. Another bird that uses lichens for nesting materila!

In the spring of 2022, a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus) built a nest in a Douglas-fir killed by drought just above the Jette Trail. The pair successfully fledged young, and the family spent time around the Arboretum through the summer.

We discovered that the January ice storm felled the tree they had nested in, providing a unique opportunity to view inside the nest. The entrance to the nest is a bit over three inches in diameter and starts at the base of a knot (maybe a weak point?). The cavity extends 18 inches deep and is wide, with all but a two inch ring of exterior wood excavated. The interior wood is soft, showing signs of decay. A number of mushrooms of Porodaedalea pini grow along the trunk, and this common forest pathogen likely contributed to the death of the tree. Interestingly, the bedding material in the nest consisted of a large amount of pendulous old man's beard lichens (Usnea spp.). These lichens may possess some anti-microbial properties.