I've never seen this before. Under the feeders, one male red-bellied woodpecker was holding down another male and pecking at his head and neck. The victim bird repeatedly tried to get away but the attacker kept him down and kept pecking him. Eventually the victim bird did get away but the attack bird dive-bombed him and he crashed into the snow, where he stayed for quite a while. I thought he might be done for, you could just see tail feathers poking out of the snow. Then there was movement, and he turned himself rightside up and just sat there for several minutes, and eventually he must have flown off. I went out to take a look and there was no blood in the snow so I thought maybe he had made it. Then I saw, about 20 yards away, another (or maybe the same) male red-bellied woodpecker, partly buried in the snow, very recently deceased, with blood all around his neck and the feathers on the neck all beat up. Did the attacker dive bomb the victim again and finish him off, or was that attack bird on a rampage and there were two victims?
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