Bitter cherry tree bleeding out sap (cherry trees, spring, input, northern)

[SeaDreams]

We have 4 bitter cherry trees in the woods right on our driveway, the biggest about 50' tall. Last weekend we noticed a section about 20' up on the biggest that had a thick ring of sap more than a foot tall plus sap coming out at the base. Looking at the other trees we found egg sized sap balls high up.

I know that sap bleeding tends to denote either injury or disease. We know nothing about this type of tree.

My concern is that they are close enough to the house that with a bad wind it could top the big one and land on the deck or house depending on winds.

We're thinking about cutting them down - but the birds love them and I'd hate to do that if it's not justified.

Any input from those of you with more knowledge/experience would be greatly appreciated!

[J&Em]

That high up wound means it is not a borer or weevil, but mechanical damage, sun scald or a canker can be causes. The bark can also sometime split and oooze sap/resin if the tree is not in soil with the right pH (they are not happy in acid soils).

[SeaDreams]

Thanks for the info J&Em - I'm leaning towards pH or something other than mechanical since there are signs on all trees. I'm also guessing not sun scald as we are coastal northern Washington state. I probably should have mentioned that about the bottom 50% of the branches and a lot of the trunk are liberally coated in a fuzzy pale green moss. It still gets its leaves through the moss in the spring.

As established as they are and just living in the forest basically I'm not sure we can do anything about the soil pH, so I think we'll keep an eye on them with some concern.

Hate to take them down, but it might end up being the right thing to do.