1977 Walter D. Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Lower Arnold 2 Hastings Reservation 29 April 1530. With a bird flushing out of the '96 nest hole again as I arrived, I went up and opened the nest, finding 6 eggs inside. Since there are 2 ♀♀ here, a return tomorrow to recheck the eggs and to measure them is definitely in order. 30 April 1430. Opened and measured the eggs this time, of which there are now 7: 4 big and 3 quite small, but not quite runts. Eggs were pretty cold. 1 May 1530. Nobody flushed out of the hole, but the eggs were warm, and there were still the same 7 of them. 3 May 1445. Bird flushed from hole. 5 May 1805. " " " " 6 May 1500. Nobody in hole. Worried because of the cold weather, I went in and checked: all 7 were still there, and they were not cold. 10 May 1630. Bird in hole. No sounds from within, however. 13 May 1145. A ♀ with a R. wing-streamer (#215, presumably) flushed from the nest and flew over almost to the central part of Bianca's territory! (See map on back). Climbing up, I discovered that the babies have indeed hatched. (Hole was not opened yet, however). I did count stores, however: 105, all in the outer Blue Oak nest tree. 1500. Went up to the hole. At first everything seemed dead, but in fact here was the present state of affairs: 3 of the eggs hatched; of the 3 very young (0-1st day) young, 1 was dead, the other 2 were all but dead, not being strong enough to rasp, right themselves, and barely moving at all. The 2 "live" young were replaced. None of the 3 small eggs were fertile, nor was egg #1, all of which were rewarded.