Sorry for your losses brook.

Nature can be hard to understand sometimes. Birds can need different things at different times because of factors we're not even aware of.
How about getting those things that big orchards have.......the sound of a gunshot going off on a regular basis.
Maybe the peaches had alot of worms in them, and that's what the woodpeckers were after?
Sometimes when water is scarce, animals will eat things they don't usually eat, in order to get water.

Again, sorry!

I too am sorry about this Brook but birds/animals do behave strangely when there's floods, drought, or anything else environmentally wrong; unfortunately you were in the "line of fire". Let's hope that nothing else goes wrong with the rest of your crops.

Oh, I'm not upset. As a lifelong student of nature, I'm well aware of her vicissitudes and accept that these things often happen. I was certainly surprised though to see the frenzy in action--and the culprits. Usually, damage to my trees comes from squirrels and other mammals. There is definitely no shortage of water, and we keep 3 suet feeders full all the time. My orchard is very small, consisting of only 50 trees, so every one is important. Environmental conditions over the last few years here have been extreme. Four of the last five years have seen excessive flooding while last year served up one of the worst droughts since the thirties. All vegetables this year were lost, so I was depending on a good fruit harvest to keep going. My main concern is that these birds have acquired a taste for my fruit, putting all my trees at risk for years to come. I'm still keeping all the feeders full, but I'm also keeping a watchful eye on the other ripening fruit.

Wow- you are kind and sensitive to their needs despite what happened- how very generous! I know I would've been going crazy over the whole thing. Is it possible to put netting over the prized ones? Or, can you spray water with a child's toy when you happen to catch them in the act? I hope this bad behaviour is just for this summer only and they revert to eating their own stuff next summer.

I'm wondering.........maybe its the bird/suet feeders that are attracting them to begin with? I had to quit feeding the birds (out of feeders.......now I grow bushes, flowers, etc., that they like the seeds of).......because the raccoons would come to pick up what they dropped.......then get into trouble all over the property. When I quit feeding the birds, the coons quit coming.
Just wondering if you might be making the wrong deduction about what's attracting them?
But.........who can ever refuse a good peach? :)

I've wondered if I'm doing the wrong thing attracting them, but the various woodpeckers are some of our favorites to watch and they've become practically tame over the years. What I don't understand is that they just started this year, and it was only red bellies. We've had those peaches many years, and they were never bothered by birds before. Now, our cherries and berries are another story. Regardless, I can't continue to lose all my crops, and covering 50 trees is not an option.