all three were cut with plenty of collar left on the trunk. Other than that, nothing special about the tree and no other obvious potential causes for whatever this is. ==>>

who cut them.. and how did he climb up there.. tree spike boots??

that is what it looks like to me ...

ken

@ Ken, no, not spikes. I cut the branches myself using an extension ladder. Probably dinged the bark a little at about 12' up, but these marks go from the ground up, are all around the tree, and don't seem to occur in any uniform pattern.

Here's another pic, different angle, different side of the tree.

Here's another look

any idea when the root flare was buried???

is it just superficial.. or does it appear that a gaping hole is going to appear.. with no live bark under ... dont go chipping out parts to find out ....

second above pic.. is there a fence nailed to the tree????

can we see a pic of the whole????

i am really stabbing in the dark here ....

ken

It's not too out of character. Q. alba is one of the oak species with 'flaky' bark. The loss of a few flakes is not unusual in itself but in your case, it's likely been aided by something (squirrel, cat, kids, you, etc.?).

I'm guessing it's a post oak(Q. stellata) that had some grading work for the development of the area. The tree is probably in decline from this. Q. alba is not native to the area with a rare few planted around town.

White oaks develop root flares. The fact that this doesn't show one suggests the flare is buried. Not good. Otherwise, I'm not too concerned about the bark -- climbing squirrels can rip out chunks of dead bark like that. Or probing woodpeckers.

Watch the vigor of the leaf canopy closely when it comes out fully. A buried root-crown can be the cause of a decline.