1976 Walter D. Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Bianca Hastings Reservation (10 May) That's it. $251 at hole, Ms. Bianca inside. I returned at 1400 to open the thing. And I may be in big luck: there's only one egg in it at the moment; a dwarf wools. 1500. Nest checked: still the 1 dwarf egg. Something's going on that I sure don't know about. 1525. Watching from hide. 1605. About 3 birds came to storage tree to chase off an intruder (acting much the same as the one I saw here hier). The birds are in the vicinity, but nobody's gone to the hole yet. 1630. Whatever is going on, it's clear that neither the 'nest' nor any other hole is presently being accorded any attention (at least any of the holes here). Not much to be done except to continue to check the place out frequently and to keep an eye on the hole as well as any other nest, in case this one has been abandoned for some reason. Before I left I did count stores: Main tree: 558 } 578 "New" area: 20 I don't believe any of the other areas have any stores of significance at this point. 13 May @ 1915. I checked the hole again, which was unattended. It remains unchanged with the one dwarf egg, which surely is not being incubated. Evidently either this was never a nest to begin with or, more likely, it has been abandoned for some reason. 1945. Returned to watch roosting to see if there might be any clues there. GO to P.8.