The tree is butchered but tries its best to grow new branches. Those new branches will be poorly attached to the tree and might break when they grow larger and heavier though, so keep an eye on how it develops

"Why does it appear dead in the winter?"

I will assume your phrasing of that question is exactly as you intended it? Did you just move north from a tropical location? Many tree species lose their leaves in the winter (or dry season). Evolutionary pressures on a species have determined the cost of keeping leaves on a tree all year is greater than the competitive benefit.

...and yes, the previous owners butchered the tree. You would not normally do that to a tree.

It appears dead because it's a deciduous tree.

But isn't there a scenario where extreme pruning such as this might be an advisable choice? It looks stout. Do you know what tree it is?

Boy, that is quite severe pruning. I suppose it put off removing the tree and passed the cost on down the line. Also, its probably not an emergency removal just because of the pruning.

Yes, edlincoln is correct in my meaning, I do know about deciduous trees - we have quite a few of them. I have watched this tree for two years and the way it looks in the 2016 winter picture above is exactly how it looked in 2015 - none of the new branches stay so I suppose huggorm is probably correct that the new branches are poorly attached. I have no idea what type of tree it is or why the previous owners would do what the did to it.

where are you .. and how bad was the storm that came thru back in time??

ken

There are trees who's woody twigs produce long green stems with lots of separate "Leaves" that are shed in the winter. One of my saplings looks very different in Spring then in the winter. Is this that sort of tree?

Christina, to identify the tree for you we need better pictures of the leaves and twigs. Much closer ones.

Ken, I am in Maryland. I suppose the previous owner may have cut it back after the derecho of 2013, that is my best guess. Floral_uk, here is another picture - a closeup of the leaves and a couple shots showing how the new branches come out although, by winter, none of these new branches will remain.

It's an oak tree...likely Northern Red Oak. The main trunk of the tree is showing some pretty severe decay so the structural integrity of the tree is definitely declining. As for the branches I see coming off the main trunk...they are epicormic branches that grew back post-butchering. Those epicormic branches btw, are at least 5 years old so the tree is NOT losing it's branches every year (though some may be stripped off by ice storms, etc.).

I wonder I wonder if the previous owner started having the tree taken down but stopped because they were about to move out?

Either they've been cutting the branches off because it's rotting or it's rotting because they keep cutting the branches off. At this point if it is not located where it will become a hazard it should be left in place for wildlife like woodpeckers to use.

This, by the way is a reason why it is possible to see tall, artificially created stumps in wooded areas - people are taking previously live trees here and there and turning them into bare trunks for wildlife to use. Due to a general deficiency in number of naturally generated, still-standing snags.

I would remove it.

"Either they've been cutting the branches off because it's rotting or it's rotting because they keep cutting the branches off."

Or both.