Pat Brockett, age 10, of Rome, New York, for his question:

Does a woodpecker harm a tree?

This question was prompted by a downy woodpecker who pecks holes in a sunburst locust tree. No, he does not harm the tree and chances are he may do it some good. The same answer goes for all other woodpeckers and trees. Certainly these busy birds seem to attack the wood with the dete‹~

&rmination of lumberjacks. But they do not intend to chop any lumber, and chances are they could not bring down a tree eves if they tried.

Their purpose is to find grubs and bugs in the bark or burrowing between the bark and the wood. Here the trunk is circled with a thin band of special cells that add the new tree rings, season by season. If this becomes infested with numerous insects, the new rings may form weak or twisted tissues. The woodpecker is not interested in eating the wood. He digs out the grubby bugs because they are his favorite food. The tree gets along better without them and the minor pecking operation does no major harm.