1987 Walter D. Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus School Hill HNHR 12 May 1730. Opened the new hole in the "traditional" tree: 3 eggs, not absolutely fresh (thus, clutch is probably complete). Also, just from listening, I'd say there are at least 3 birds here. 14 May 805. Watching territory. 835. Well, so far it looks like ①♀ wa2/DB #260, an ub♂, and at least one other bird, probably 2. Plus, there seem to be intruders up here as well; there are ≥2 birds hanging out in the trees above the enclosure that either don't belong here at all or are a splinter group. 850. Yes, we are talking ub♂(♂?) here! It's hard to tell, but I wouldn't be surprised if we were talking 5 birds here. 910. Other than the ♀, all I see are ub♂♂. I bet there are 3 or 4 of them. 915. Leaving I'd say some indiscriminate netting would be in order. 16 May 830. Still 4 eggs. By the way, from watching roosting, there are definitely 6 birds here! 19 May 600. Ambushing at the new hole on the other side of the limb from the nest hole, I caught 4 unbanded ♂♂ this morning! Assuming 1 more spending the night in the nest, this makes a group (unit) of 5 ♂♂ moving in here. 715. It turned out that there was a 5th unbanded ♂ by himself in the Blue Oak hole. I banded him as well (♂1382), but I wouldn't swear that he belongs in the group (the bird was molting for one thing). But who knows, the birds were roosting here 2 days ago, so why not? There very well may be 6 ♂♂ here, 5 of whom are now banded. ♂977 is almost certainly gone. These 4 are #1378-81 Note: numbers have been changed.