1979 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Lower Arnold 2 Hastings Reservation 11 June 1540. Noone seen here in passing. 18 June 950. " " " " 24 June 1600. Flushed a bird from the hole in the Blue Oak (!?) - prompting me to open the hole and check it. There was nothing inside, however, so we went ahead and set an ambush at the rear hole, where Ron saw at least 2 birds roost last night. 25 June 1925. Flushed 2 birds out of the hole in the Blue Oak. 30 June 1930. Bird in the rear '75 nest hole. 3 July Birds first seen here on 14 May, clearly serious by 24 May → Founded ~ 19 May. Note that Ron saw 2 unbanded 38 here on 25 May, but there's been no indication of a 3rd bird since then. 6 July 600. Flushed 2 birds out of the rear hole. 7 July 530. An ambush at the rear hole was laudably successful, netting an unbanded ♂ (now 8506) and unbanded ♀ (4507). Both were banded, bled, and released. 29 July The area around the main trees here was burned rather badly and I'm not quite sure as yet how much of their storage area was lost. When we went up this morning the Blue Oak was still standing even though it was quite charred and its ultimate long-term prospects were questionable. The rear Valley Oak certainly is still standing but most of the holes in it were in small branches fairly low to the ground whose fates I didn't assess but certainly may well have been casualties. If so this group may be in trouble, but since I hardly ever understood how they made it in the first place even before the fire perhaps they'll manage.