What is the main idea of the passage?

A tree cavity can support many creatures through construction, reuse, and decay. (The passage follows one cavity from woodpecker construction through later animal use and finally to the fallen trunk's role in the forest.)

Why can an empty woodpecker hole remain valuable after the woodpecker leaves?

Other animals can use a shelter they may be unable to make themselves. (The text says several animals cannot always excavate a sound trunk, so a previously made cavity gives them shelter they could not readily build.)

In the passage, what does “excavate” most nearly mean?

To cut or dig out a hollow space (The surrounding sentences describe woodpeckers chiseling wood to create cavities, so “excavate” means to cut or dig out a space.)

According to the passage, what may fungi do as a tree ages?

Soften the walls of the tree (The third paragraph directly states that fungi may soften the walls as the tree and its cavity change.)

Borrowed Rooms in the Forest: Level 4 Reading Comprehension Questions

In a mature woodland, a nesting hole may serve more than one family. Woodpeckers can chisel into softened or decaying wood, creating cavities where they raise their young. Their strong bills open the entrance, while chips carried away leave a sheltered chamber inside the trunk.

After the first builders depart, other animals may use the empty space. Small owls, songbirds, squirrels, and some bats cannot always excavate a sound trunk for themselves. Instead, they depend on holes made by decay or by skilled birds. A cavity that looks abandoned is therefore part of a quiet housing system. These shelters can be especially important where thick bark and solid wood leave few natural openings for animals seeking protected places to rest or breed.

The system changes as the tree ages. Rain may widen an opening, fungi may soften the walls, and a storm may finally break the trunk. Yet even then, the fallen wood shelters insects and returns nutrients to the soil as it decomposes. This chain shows why an old or damaged tree is not simply wasted wood. When safety allows it to remain, one trunk can support many lives through building, reuse, and gradual change.

Comprehension questions