Interesting question about the drought, Linda... It made me think about a Flicker I saw back in a bad drought year who pecked a small garter snake to death, and then flew off with it into a grove. Later that same winter I saw Downy Woodpeckers and Chickadees picking scraps from the ribs of a frozen deer carcass. This would've been 10-12 years ago.
On Sat, Nov 26, 2022 at 2:54 PM linda whyte < 0000004e7b0e779a-dmarc-requ...@lists.umn.edu> wrote: > Interesting observation/documentation, Brian. > Caching behavior is not surprising, but the particular content seems a bit > so, especially given that it's not breeding season. It opens a whole host > of speculative questions. > Might recent drought and lower insect population make such birds more > interested in larger prey? > Would cached carcasses in frozen state be a form of food insurance? > Do the Red-bellieds present food trophies to prospective partners? > If this species is increasing in number, does such behavior represent a > learned adaptation that gives them some advantage? > It all makes the Red-bellieds even more interesting to watch! Thanks for > posting. > Linda Whyte > > On Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 12:45 PM MOU <m...@moumn.org> wrote: > > > (Posted by Brian Tennessen <brian.tennes...@gmail.com> via moumn.org) > > > > This morning at Old Cedar Bridge, actually beyond the bridge, over where > > the trail from the bridge T's at the river, I observed a behavior I've > not > > seen before--A Red-bellied Woodpecker with a small rodent, maybe a vole > or > > shrew, maybe a mouse for that matter. > > > > The bird carrried this around for some time, then put it into a tree > hole, > > seeming to cache it. It then flew off. I would imagine this is an > > opportunistic find that this Woodpecker came upon, maybe a cached kill > of a > > Shrike for example. After caching, the woodpecker still had a small piece > > of innards that I presume it then ate, I have a photo of this as well. > If > > anyone has seen this behavior before or thoughts on this, please comment. > > Quite an interesting behavior.. > > > > I talked with Dale Carlson and Steve Carlson about this after this > > occurred, as they were both down at the bridge as well, and showed them > the > > photos on my camera. Neither of them had observed this behavior before. > > > > Please comment with any thoughts, similar observations you may have had > in > > the past etc. > > > > https://flic.kr/p/2o2jjxc > > > > https://flic.kr/p/2o2gvbR > > > > Brian T. > > St. Paul MN > > > > ---- > > General information and guidelines for posting: > > https://moumn.org/listservice.html > > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > > > > During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social > > distancing, and continue to bird responsibly. > > > > ---- > General information and guidelines for posting: > https://moumn.org/listservice.html > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > > During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social > distancing, and continue to bird responsibly. > -- Jason M. Frank Founder & Vice President Luddite Ornithologists League (LOL) Big Stone County, Minnesota "Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Thomas Paine." ---- General information and guidelines for posting: https://moumn.org/listservice.html Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly.
