1976 Walter D. Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Lower Arnold 2 Hastings Reservation 23 April 1305. Watching ♂ atop the Valley Oak perch tree; apparently is ♂133. 1325. ♀ LP-LB/DP [Dark eye] finally showed up -#132. Apparently nothing too exciting has happened here as yet. 27 April 1830. Walked by, seeing no one in the main area but later seeing 2 birds, ♂ and ♀ (dark eye) across the canyon, who I presume were these birds. They chased a 3rd bird (♂) in the 5 minutes I was able to follow them. 1845. One bird chasing Dickey bird (Bluebird?) from storage tree. 1735. Bird flushed out of low hole in dead the old Blue Oak storage tree - undoubtedly their nest. 1 May 2 May 1600. The hole was opened - undoubtedly one of the more painful openings of my career, inasmuch as the hole is about 2 feet down and the Q. touglesi wood is hard as nails. The whole operation took nearly 1½ hours of solid sawing. In any case, I was rewarded with 4 translucent eggs. 4 May 1640. Flushed ♀132 (bands seen) from nest hole; ♂ in perch tree. West checked: still 4 eggs. One had a slight dent - almost as though it had been caused by a misplaced gentle peck. 5 May 1800. Eggs unchanged. ♀ flushed from nest. 9 May 1100. Nest still being attended. 10 May 1200. Nobody in nest when I passed it. One bird in perch tree next doors, however. 13 May 1830. Checked nest. Only 2 of the eggs hatched. #3 never developed, as was suspected back on 5 May. #4 developed, but died before hatching: the embryo, still in the broken egg, → GO TO P.4