Figured it out. It is the work of Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers.

Yep, very typical of sapsucker damage.

is that huge tree.. seriously ... inches from the house??? .. if so.. you might want to fully ID the tree ... and pay a certified professional .. for an opinion as to its structural stability ... and health ... sapsuckers MIGHT be the least of your problems .... are you in hurricane territory????

can we see a pic of the whole tree .. or perhaps in the tree forum ....

did you remove the bark ... to look at the holes??? .. that is some seriously aggressive sap sucking ....

ken

Yeah, it's about 3' from the patio to the base of the trunk. The eaves of the lanai make it look closer, but it is still closer than my mother would like it to have been. It was there when she moved in last spring and where she lives you have to get permission to remove trees. But she is fairly done with listening to the ball-like seedpods (which make me think it's a sycamore) dropping onto her lanai roof. She was actually hoping it would be something a little more serious than sapsuckers so that there would be an incentive to bring the entire thing down and replace it with a Sabal Palmetto or something nicer.

The bark damage is from the sapsuckers. Even the spots higher up where the sapsuckers have drilled are devoid of bark around the scars.

We got nailed pretty hard by the winds from TS Debbie this past summer and the tree took it fairly well. Better than other trees in her neighborhood.