Dave Nutter wrote: <although someone else reported on eBird today seeing one of them apparently feeding an unseen nestling.>
Mike Powers mentioned on Facebook on Saturday that he'd seen a nestling bill in the hole. I also thought I saw that very briefly on Friday. I bet we will be seeing the nestling(s) looking out soon. They are definitely feeding on wild grape at Mays, one can watch them on the vines around the edges of the dead tree area. While I was there on Friday, one caught a cicada which protested loudly for a few seconds before being quickly dispatched. The birds have favorite "anvil trees", often the top of a snag, to which they return again and again to with food to process (in the case of the cicada, removing wings and legs), before taking the food to the nest or eating it themselves. This may superficially look like caching. (Other woodpecker species do this too...Lewis's e.g.) Meanwhile, if people would like to see a few photos, there are some on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marie-Read-Wildlife-Photography/104356136271727 Marie Marie Read Wildlife Photography 452 Ringwood Road Freeville NY 13068 USA Phone 607-539-6608 e-mail m...@cornell.edu http://www.marieread.com ***NEW*** Music of the Birds Vol 1 ebook for Apple iPad now available from iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/music-of-the-birds-v1/id529347014?mt=11 ________________________________________ From: bounce-107860097-5851...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-107860097-5851...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Dave Nutter [nutter.d...@me.com] Sent: Sunday, August 25, 2013 12:16 AM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Red-headed Wo caching food I don't know what was in the photo or what else the Red-headed Woodpeckers have been eating, but this afternoon at South Mays Point Road I watched one in a tree just next to the road, eating wild grapes. It then flew to one of the dead trees, but not the tree with the cavity I believe they have been using. Both adults were present in the dead trees, but I did not see them approach that tree during the 20 minutes we were there, although someone else reported on eBird today seeing one of them apparently feeding an unseen nestling. --Dave Nutter -- 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/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --
