I have woodpecker damage on trees that looks similar after bark heals a few years after the pecking. Did that just appear as it looks old. If it is recent, I would expect sap at exposed area but that looks completely dry.

Thanks. I just noticed it but it could have been there for a while. Probably not a year. Here are a couple of other images of other places on the same tree. What's amazing is the waffle pattern in the area I showed in the first image.

Is this bird eating the bark or does he thing he is going to create a place to hide food?

That definitely looks like old woodpecker damage. The WP is digging for insects. You may need to tree the tree with a pesticide if you see new damage to kill off what the WP is digging in your tree for. But they stay pecking as long as they detect insects, so if you have no new damage, then you may be safe now. The pecking damage will heal and not be detrimental for the future. It's the underlying bug issue that could cause real issue and if left unchecked, both the bug and continuous pecking would likely kill the tree.

Thanks very much! I'll keep my eye out for any further pecking.