1979 Walter D. Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Arnold 1 Hastings Reservation 23 March 1250. Watching. 1330. Nothing. Going to walk around. 24 March 1615. Watching. 1645. Slow (but I did get a Starling here). 14 April 1000. Two birds, a ♂ and ♀, over in the forest towards Big Tree but on this side. Also some activity around here - birds waking and the like. The ♂ flew to the Valley Oak just up from the granary but then I lost him. Watching. 1013. Two, possibly 3 birds here. ♂ is once again ♂ Yel-Da/Yel-Da, , appearing more and more to be ♂100. 1030. When flushed, these birds (apparently) flew all the way up to Keep Out and then back around via Big Tree (see map on back). 20 April Purge: ♂199, ♂267 ♂422, ♂447. First was last seen 29 December, all were seen 7 December, out of stores between 2 Jan and 6 Feb; Definitely gone (and replaced by 2 new birds) by 10 March → Abandoned about (not seen again) 31 Jan. 1979 ± 1 month. Add: ♀ub and (apparently!) ♂100, founded here (age unknown and adult, respectively) about 1 March 1979 (±2 wks). 21 April 1830. Came up here to watch roosting, fully expecting the birds to roost in the regular hole here. However, upon examining it, a Starling flushed out of it! This was too much, and I later hung around long enough to blast the ♀ as she was returning to incubate her eggs (!) I found no sign of where the Acorners might be roosting, but at least they'll be able to use the hole in the granary again if they want to.