A Miracle

July 1st and the Red-Headed Woodpeckers are in abundance during late afternoon. Flying from tree to tree making all manner of raucous noises - if you've ever heard a RHW the call is unmistakable and loud.

I decided to take a few shots of the happy couple, who are back at work in the usual dead limb now that the Flycatchers have moved on. After just a few shots I forget all about them, go inside and prepare dinner. The weekend progressed, holiday parties ensued, visitors came and went and this morning I'm finally downloading the week's photos. Some are good, some are bad, some go here and some go there. I'm hoping for a few good RHW shots, maybe. There's only one of the mom and dad together so I open it in Photoshop on my good wide-screen monitor. Wait...there are more than two birds on that limb. Wait....OMG...it's the baby. By a miracle, I got the three together and didn't even know it until today.

Meet the Wheeler Lake Red-Headed Woodpecker family - dad, mom and junior.

The Constancy of Change

The Sentry has moved on even though the Starlings were dispatched with haste. I miss their raucous cries and flashy nature. I was heavily invested in the RHW as you know, witnessing The Sentry fashioning her nest hole with great care for months, find a mate, and begin setting up house.

What makes a RHW work for months on a nest cavity, defend it from squirrels and bluejays and all manner of beasties only to be chased away by birds half their size? It wasn't in the cards for me to witness baby red-headed woodpeckers this year, sadly.

The nest cavity has been vacant for weeks now. The RHW's do visit from time to time. They never go inside, but perch close by and watch. Nevertheless, they obviously had to nest elsewhere as Mrs. RHW was getting fat.

I've been so sad about it all. However, recently we witnessed a new development. A pair of birds began not only investigating the nest cavity, but filling it will all manner of flotsam and jetsam. I wasn't familiar with the bird, but it is beautiful. Bright yellow breast with cinnamon tail and feathering. Slightly smaller than a jay, larger than a cardinal, sort of robin-sized. High in the tree canopy. My first thought was a flycatcher, and I nailed it. Please welcome the Great Crested Flycatcher. The only flycatcher that nests in cavities, but is native and lovely. Check 'em out on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Great_Crested_Flycatcher.html

I'm no longer hopeful about watching nests, but perhaps these guys will stick around. They are more elusive than the RHW's, but this morning having coffee on the deck I saw Mrs. GCF fly inside the hole and she stayed there. I'm hoping they'll be here for awhile.

The Sentry, Part 3

The Sentry is remodeling. An echoing rat-a-tat-tat of bill against wood can be heard almost non-stop as she enlarges the hole for what is normally a clutch of 4-7 eggs. Yesterday afternoon I watched with a sort of giddyness as she would hammer away for several minutes before sticking her head out and literally spit wood chips out into the wind. If this photo enlarges as it's supposed to you can see the chips mid-air.

After a time she would have to take a break. That kind of hard work must make a RHW hungry. Off she'd fly to several nearby trees for a treat - perhaps even one of those tasty grasshoppers we learned about in the last post. Sometimes she'll dart around and catch some hapless bug on the fly. She'll sqawk about and flit around before coming back to work on her task, sated and ready for work.

She's used to me sitting in my chair with my camera lying on my lap. However, this time whenever I would raise my camera to take a photo she would watch me and begin sqawking incessently. Methinks she's being protective. Therefore, I don't move around much and am content to shoot from this angle. There'll be time for more angles later.

The GOOD news is that there are no signs of Starlings at all. They're gone. Either The Sentry and her mate chased them off for good, or my husband helped us out a bit. Keep your fingers cross for babies!

The Sentry, Part 2

The Sentry has a mate. We have observed the mate darting back and forth, helping with all manner of household chores. As well, red-headed woodpecker hanky-panky was actually witnessed last week. Hopefully, a baby or two will occur from their union and I’ll have some amazing photo ops in the not-too-distant future.

Not knowing exactly what an immature red-headed woodpecker looks like, I went to one of my favorite birding sites, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and found the perfect photo of one by a Mr. Kevin T. Karlson. Also there, I learned some groovy things about RHW’s. Their favorite food is grasshoppers, and they store them alive “wedged into crevices to tightly that they cannot escape.” That’s pretty cool, unless you’re a grasshopper that is.

Red-headed woodpeckers are extremely territorial. You may recall from my original post some months ago how The Sentry would dive bomb any and all hapless squirrels, blue jays and cats that happened to get too close. According to Cornells’ page, we can expect anywhere between 4-7 eggs, provided all works out according to my wishes.

Imagine my curiosity when yesterday during my gardening frenzy I hear an odd sound coming from The Sentry’s tree. Glancing up I see the fluttering of wings close to the nest hole. Once I got my camera with its zoom lens in position, I fired off various shots to enlarge to ID the bird. I wasn’t familiar with its call. It wasn’t a song, or a chirp, or a warble. It was very unusual. Is this an immature red-headed woodpecker…already? By the size it would be a "teenage" RHW. I can't imagine a teenager red-headed aggressive-territorial woodpecker knowing what I know from living with my OWN teenager, but I digress.

It’s a starling. A basic, b-flat starling. But what is it doing up there? It was fluttering around the nest hole – above it, really, on the broken part of the branch. Back to Cornell Lab of Ornithology for a lesson in european starlings. First off, Cornell describes their sound as a “quiet series of rattles and whistled notes.” That is a perfect description of what I heard. Here I learn that starlings are cavity-nesting birds and are fierce competitors for nest holes, even expelling native species. Cornell goes on to say so far only sapsuckers seem to be on the decline due to these non-native birds.

I’m not necessarily against starlings, but I am FOR my native red-headed woodpeckers. I’ve seen The Sentry take on much larger critters who venture too close to the nest hole, so I’m hoping the starlings are quickly ousted from the tree. That's The Sentry report for April.