Thanks everyone for the responses and thoughts, I am going to cut / paste some of the responses that came only to me, that may be of interest to others regarding this topic.
I have gotten permission from each to do so. I will put lines between the different responses, with the writer's name. -------------------- I looked in Paul Erlich's "A Birder's Handbook" and read that the Red-bellied's diet consists of nuts, fruit, seeds and insects. There was no mention of them eating mammals. It did say that they will hoard food in cavities. I hope your e-mail to the MOU elicits a response from someone who has done fieldwork with woodpeckers. S Carlson ------------------- I’ve seen red bellied woodpeckers hunting and catching leopard frogs as the lakes are freezing up and the frogs were stuck on the thin ice on the edge, too cold to move quickly. I didn’t see them eating the frogs but they speared them with their beak and carried it up into the trees. M. Keefe ------------------- Amazing report, Brian! I've never seen a woodpecker do anything like this, but the resource Birds of the World says this of Red-bellied Woodpeckers: "Small prey are swallowed whole, and larger prey (e.g., nestling birds, lizards, small mammals, large caterpillars, large insects) are killed by beating against branches or pecking, and then are torn or hammered into pieces before swallowing." So I guess they do indeed hunt larger prey! They also feed on songbird eggs and young and do indeed cache, particularly in fall and winter. What an incredible sighting, though. I never knew woodpeckers would collect small mammals and lizards! Very shrike-y, as you said. J. Del Rosso ----------------------- Yes, please feel free to share. I was writing while heading out the door and am not active in the Minnesota list (I'm a CO birder who occasionally visits MN), so I didn't write to the whole list. I've tried digging up references on the bird taking mammals. One is in a 1980s issue of Michigan Audobon's *Jack Pine Warbler *newsletter, which isn't currently available online. There's one ornithological article documenting the woodpecker visiting a deer carcass. Though the fact that they feed on small mammals and other vertebrates seems relatively well established, my rather quick and not especially thorough look through of references doesn't turn up much. So congrats on documenting a fairly uncommon behavior. J. Del Rosso ------------------------ Hi Brian, That’s some great photos you got…I’ve never seen a RBWO with a mammal before but years ago I had a camera in my Wood Duck nesting box and witnessed one pecking open eggs that hadn’t been incubated yet - then, returning after the chicks hatched & jumped to eat the infertile eggs that remained. So glad you shared your encounter, this woodpecker amazes me with its diversity in food source. C. Gagliardi ----------------------- Thanks again to everyone for the interesting thoughts and responses, Brian T. St. Paul On Sat, Nov 26, 2022 at 4:26 PM Paul Sitz <ps...@goldengate.net> wrote: > Explains why suet feeders work, eh? > > -----Original Message----- > From: Minnesota Birds <MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU> On Behalf Of Jason Frank > Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2022 4:01 PM > To: MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU > Subject: ADV: Re: [mou-net] Red-bellied Woodpecker with rodent, Hennepin > County > > 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. > > ---- > 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.
