I spent 3+ hours photographing the Red-headed Woodpeckers at May's Point this morning. Their excavation continues, and all was going well until a European Starling tried to take over the hole, attacking one of the woodpeckers while its head was in the hole. Over the course of an hour or so, there were a number of exciting battles, with both woodpeckers chasing and tussling with the starling. Several times one of the woodpeckers flew to the top of a snag and performed some rather lack-lustre drumming, as if to exert its territoriality, but it ignored me when I told it that the starling didn't care! At one point the starling managed to get into the hole, and both woodpeckers proceeded to peck into the hole and try to drag the interloper out. Finally the starling came out and was duly chased again.
There are a couple of photos of the action here: http://marieread.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Red-headed-Woodpecker/G0000uuJTXp9cl0Q/I00006BEMJxa9HLQ/C0000aIKlnXAzJ0g http://marieread.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Red-headed-Woodpecker/G0000uuJTXp9cl0Q/I0000WIwL7OZQ1yk/C0000aIKlnXAzJ0g I'm sure the drama is far from over. Marie Marie Read Wildlife Photography 452 Ringwood Road Freeville NY 13068 USA Phone 607-539-6608 e-mail [email protected] http://www.marieread.com Author of Sierra Wings: Birds of the Mono Lake Basin Available here: http://marieread.photoshelter.com/gallery/Sierra-Wings-Birds-of-the-Mono-Lake-Basin/G0000NlCxX37uTzE -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
