Acorn woodpecker species accounts, v4450

Koenig, Walter D., 1950-
Unknown
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley
Original Source
Source Material:
Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley. | www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Acorn woodpecker Acorn woodpecker--Behavior--California Hastings Natural History Reservation (Calif.)

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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanurpes foniciramus Doubly-labelled Water HNHR 5 June 1A ♀1042 Breeder♀ from CV Cerande Injected w/ 200μl at 1149; wt 80.9g. Bled at 1252. wt: 78.9g. Released (in nest) at 1256. 2A ♀1445 Breeder♀ from Knoll Injected w/ 200μl at 1335; wt: 76.3g → Forgot to get 2nd weight! Bled at 1448 wt! — Released 1452 7 June 3A ♀1255 Breeder♀ from Blomthure Injected w/ 200μl at 851; wt: 73.0g Bled at 956 wt: 71.9g . Released (in nest) at 1005 -2B ♀1445 Recapture. Bled at 1413 ; wt: 73.2g -1B ♀1042. Recapture Bled at 1249 ; wt 80.3g 9 June 3B ♀1255. Recapture Bled at 922 wt: 72.0g Released at 932 WL:145 Tail:80 -4A ♀1560 Breeder♀ from Y Injected w/ 200μl at 1055 wt: 79.0g Bled at 1155 wt: 77.3 Released (in nest) at 1200
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Doubly-labeled Water HNHR 11 June → Some small bubbles from trip up in syringe. Get rid of most of them. 5A- ♀1668. Breeder ♀ at Keep Out Injected w/ 198μl at 900 Wt: 71.3g Wl: 136 Tail: 77 Bled at: 1005 Wt: 70.4g Released 1010 in nest. -4B ♀1445. Recapture Bled at 1205. Wt: 81.2g Culmen: 33.5mm 13 June -6A ♀1356. Breeder ♀ at Blomtuso. Injected w/ 200μl at 757 Wt: 79.9g. Bled at 903 Wt: 77.3g Released at 908 5B- ♀1668. Recapture. Bled at [illegible]. Wt: 69.8g 15 June -6B ♀1356. Recapture. Bled at 932. Wt: 78.1g. Released at 940, 17 June 7A ♀787. Breeder ♀ at 1800. Injected w/ 200μl at 1000 Wt: 74.8g. Bled at 1105 Wt: 73.3g Released at 1109 19 June 7B ♀787. Recapture. Bled at 1305 Wt: 77.9g Released at 1315 23 June 8A ♀1607. Breeder ♀ at Chongo. Injected w/ 200μl at 958 Wt: 73.4g. Bled at 1104 Wt: 70.9g Released in hole at 110 → This bird not recaptured.
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Doubly-labeled Water HNHR 27 June 9A ♀1609. Breeder ♀ at 1500. Injected w/ 200μl at 1150. Wt: 79.8g. Bled at 1252 Wt: 78.1g Released at 1305. 29 June 9B ♀1609. Recapture. Wt: 78.8g Bled at: 1306. Released at 1312 [Note: Possible (slight) contamination of the H²¹⁸O before 2 July] 2 July 10A ♀2013. Breeder ♀ at Finch. Injected w/ 200μl at 643. Wt: 76.1g. Bled at 750 Wt: 75.0g Released at 820. →This bird not recaptured
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1992 Walter D Koenig All times are PST Melanerpes formicivorus Doubly-labeled Water HNHR 19 May 1992 1A ♀653 (Gazebo ♀) Wt:76.0g at 543 at 546 Inj. w/ 190μl Bled at: 646 Released 648 caught roosting 21 May 1992 1B ♀653. Caught at nest. Wt: 75.4g. Bled at 736. 26 May 1992 2A ♀1863 (LPHF♀) caught at nest. Inj. w/ 190μl at 1020 Wt: 79.2 Bled at 1119 Released at in nest (Not recaptured) 29 May 1992 3A ♀1649 (Arf, too) caught at nest. Inj w/ 190μl at 1630 Wt:83.4g at 1630 Bled at 1732 Released 1735 31 May 1992 3B ♀1649. Caught at nest (1810) Wt:83.1gm Bled at 1820 2 June 1992 4A ♀2069. (Moonshing) Caught at nest (804) Inj. w/ 180μl at 810 Wt:74.8 (15) Bled at 910 Released 915 4 June 4B ♀2069. Caught at nest (1010) Wt: 73.3g Bled at 1014 Released 1020
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1991 Walter D. Koenig Asyndesmus Lewis San Antonio Valley, Santa Clara Co., California 28 May Morne, Mark, Jill Goldstein and I headed off from Hastings bright and early at 0300 in pursuit of Lewis' Woodpecker nests and nestlings with the far-fetched idea (thanks to Nick Davis) of transplanting them into Acorn Woodpecker nests and seeing if any delay dispersal and help. The drive up Mt. Hamilton is quite beautiful, and we passed Fanny's place on the way down. Things didn't look that promising, however, until we rounded the corner of San Antonio Valley Rd (see map on back) and got out to look a bit. Habitat was very nice and open oak (mostly Blue) woodland with some digger pines. It was loaded with hole-nesting birds- Acorn Woodpeckers, Starlings, Ash-throated Flycatchers, and, yes, Lewis Woodpeckers. We all split up and wandered around for about an hour, coming up with 4 nests! Thus, by 900 we were busy climbing and opening up nests. My 1st nest had 3 babies and an adult (who stayed put while I jumped up, sawed open the hole, and everything) who we took some pictures of. Mark had a free-climb with 2 babies and an adult as well. Morne had another nest with 2 babies; these 3 nests were all in Blue Oaks not more than about 200m apart at the most. Finally, we went back to my nest which was back toward the bend in the road and found 1 more baby for a total of 8. In the meantime, Mark opened an Acorn Woodpecker nest for 4 more
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"Here" is where we found the Lewis' Woodpeckers. It was ~1 m s of the Z ranch entrance and ~4.2 m s of the Del Pueto Canyon turnoff. It's also just around the sharp bend in the road coming down from Mt. Hamilton. Alum Rock Blvd. To Mt. Hamilton Mt Hamilton San Jose Miner Rd -> Del Pueto Cyn San Antonio Vly Z ranch 1m Here Fanny's Place Sharp bend in road Small draws x leading up to some chaparral Nests were all up the draws a bit 50m+ away from the road on the left. we didn't explore The other side at all.
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1991 Walter D. Boening Asynchronous Lewis San Antonio Valley, Santa Clara Co., California (28 May) babies that he wanted for some switches. All the Lewis' were ~10-20 day old category - quite synchronous, as well as fairly close together and, because the holes were relatively large, fairly easy to open. All in all, it seemed like they'd be pretty easy to study out here, as nests are not hard to find and adults would not be hard to band. It's good to know that the population here is doing fine 20 yrs after Carl Bock watched them (actually closer to 25 yrs). We drove back (with 12 screaming babies in the car) by going up [illegible] and out Del Puerto Canyon Rd to Hwy 5. This all made for a long day - we got back to Hastings about 1530 or 1600, and we're very lucky to have managed that (we did only because we found nests so fast). Incredibly evenough, the transplant experiment is going to take place! We also noted as a final point that the small brood sizes (1-3, Mean of 2 [n=4]) we found contrasts with the rather large clutch size of Lewis' Woodpeckers, which is slightly larger than Acorn Woodpeckers. So, there must be lots of brood reduction in this species! Hastings Reservation, Monterey Co., California We started by adding the 3 youngish babies (2 from 1 brood and the nunt from The brood of 3) to CV Grande, where they otherwise have only 2 babies. We then went and banded Road 1, adding two of the remaining chickes (the younger of those left) to their 4. This
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes lewis San Antonio Valley, Santa Clara Co, Calif 30 May Stanback, I, and the 2 assistants (Jim & Valen) made the 2nd annual Lewis Woodpecker raid today, leaving at 0330 and going to the same area as last year. It continues to astonish me - Lewis' Woodpeckers all over (Mark went on both sides of the road this year and found 6 nests!), lots of hole-nesting species, and a Digger Pine-Blue Oak woodland that's remarkably healthy with lots of small, baby, and medium-sized blue oaks - this area is regenerating just fine! We know now that all the land (with a few minor exceptions) is owned by Carry & Ruth Stoddard, Star Rt. Box 53, Livermore. I wrote them and got a nice letter back just yesterday, but had not successfully called them to let them know we were coming. I will write them a nice letter, though, as this is a really neat area and I'd love to go back and ultimately get someone to study those woodpeckers. We stole 12 babies from 4 nests and weighed babies from 2 more. The 12 included broods of 3, 3, 4, & 2, and were from the same area as last years (including one from the same hole). Nests were also found by Mark on the other side of the road (across the river), where numerous LW could be seen flycatching at any one time. We drove back via Del Puerto Canyon & I5 & Case de Frute again after stopping at The "Junction" - right where Mines Road, del Puerto Cyn Rd, & San Antonio Road come together (it is over 20 m longer that way, by the way). Their ranch is the "F(" ranch or some such
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes Lewis San Antonio Valley, Santa Clara Co. Calif. (30 May) The guy at "The Junction" was the one who told us that The Stoddards are the big land owners here (including The Junction, apparently). [The Y ranch is just a small inholding.] He seemed to feel that bird watchers were just a short step above horse thieves as well. In any case, we got all the babies back by 1600. Mark had the inspiration to paint their crowns to look like Acorn Woodpeckers using lots of white-out and an orange paint marker. They ended up eerily like Al when they were done. We then did the best we could to divey them up, and got all in by dark- except those waited for CV Orange, which we did the next morning. The final distribution was as follows: Plaque 2 (1 killed!) Refute 1 Gazebo 2 CV Orange 3 CVI 1 MPHF 1 Murf 1 (the runt of one of the litters) School Hill 1 We'll see what happens! Keep your fingers crossed! June Banding Plaque, Gazebo, CVI, & SHill today. All OK except for Plaque, where they had killed 1 of the LW plus one of their own babies! (see MTS notes for details).
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes lewis Hastings Reservation, Monterey Co., Calif. 1 July We don't have a complete accounting, but several of the birds have been seen. We're supplementing all the groups with Lewis' Welpers with dog food just to be sure that we maximize the chances they'll hang around even if the adults don't do much to encourage them. And, so far at least, this is pretty much what seems to be happening. At Plague, for example, not only is the one LW there but he's been joined by the School Hill bird. (Why did the latter leave? Don't know; maybe he fledged, wandered down the hill a bit and heard the Plague bird.) In any case, but are successfully hanging out at Plague, but only being barely tolerated by the adults, who don't seem interested in feeding them (see Plague notes).
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Hastings Reservation 17 June Went out with Elizabeth to chase after the School Hill floater (8'1917). Went over hill and gone. Started at Hanby's, walked up to Lambert Flats, and actually found the Found at 1545 Hastings: 44.5° (Griffins house) uncorrected Big Blue: 296° (un corrected) Oak Ridge Gate (Tassajara Rd Suct): 349° uncorrected bird at a little open site on the side of a ridge Got knows where except you could see just about everything. Interestingly, The site had several large trees and some! nice roost holes, but no group or granary; that is, he didn't just head back "home", wherever that may be. He still seems to be floating! The site was on a ridge with direct site to Hastings & Tassajara Corners. There was an open (buldze? ) circle ~10' in diameter at the site on the ridge. Again, we could find no granary in the immediate vicinity, although the site looks good for one. He's also by himself - there is no group nearby, best I could tell. There is a tree with several roost holes at the site, however, suggesting that a granary has fallen that used to permit occupancy? The whole search took ~2 1/2 hrs.
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes fomincivorus Change HWHR 4 January 830. Granary is empty, no sign of any birds. This group is apparently defunct for the winter. 16 May 1100. Checked both holes in the granary (only peeped the lower); empty. 26 May 810. 4 fresh-looking eggs in The low hole in The granary. 29 May 1310. 5 eggs now. 7 June 1840. 4 babies + 1 infertile egg. ① 12.6 ② 12.0 ③ 7.2 ④ 2.8 8 June 1450. Parasite board added. 11 June 1540. " " gone. Babies: ① 32.8 ② 30.1 ③ 23.9 . ②'s band gone. 12 June Momé watched tonight and hat ♂1729 roosting in the nest alone. 13 June Momé again reports that ♂1729 roosted in The nest. 23 June 900. Set up to get ♀1607 for DLW. 950. Got her! 24 June 1945. Watched roosting tonight and, once again, ♂1729 roosted alone in the nest. 25 June 1015. Set up for the recapture. This group does have dogfood feeders, by the way. 1035. ♀ OrYM #1665 fed. 1135. ♀ wh-08/M #1729 fed. 1210. Birds dipping! Removed the 2 larger babies in hopes of making the ♀ (Who's only fed once thus far) enter the hole. 1405. No dice. Quitting. My first failure. 2000. Momé watched tonight, and once again ♂1729 roosted in the nest.
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1991 1992 Walter D Keenig Melanerpes fomiticivorus Chongt HNHE 31 December 945. No acorns stored here; no sign of a group. Presumably abandoned this fall (fide Connie). 1992 19 January *Group Update* These birds, which were here in June, are abandoned by Nov. 15th -> Abandoned (NSA so far) 1 Sept. ± 1 month. 23 April Connie reports a pair (probably NOBA) here! So I watched roosting tonight - both roosted in the granary in the horizontal (i.e., not vertical) hole. Ambush time! 24 April 900. Set the ambush here. 25 April 430. Got them both. The ♂ is banded, ♀ NOBA -> 2021. 4 May 1100. None in either of the holes. 11 May 1100. Still none in either hole. Checked them both as well: empty (but in good shape). A bird came and checked me out while I was in the tree, so they may be interested. 14 May 1530. None in the holes. 18 May 1350. 6 October 1520. Trying for one of The babies for Stanback 1640. Birds are here, but wary and not feeding. Will try tomorrow. 7 October 810. Back again. 855. j2114 fed, but at hole! May be too late already. 940. Quitting. Don't think I'll get them, but I may try one more time depending. 9 October 830. Banded and bled The 2 babies here.
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Buckeye HNHR 6 March 1200. Came up to show Morné and Roger the territory. There are some stores left, but not a lot - there's a lot of empty space in the granary. 10 April 1100. None in any holes here. One bird in the granary, however, where Morné has 2 feeders set up. No sign of any action over at Buckeye Annex. 29 May 1500. Bird in last year's nest hole (and has been for weeks, apparently). Zilch over at Buckeye Annex. 2 June 800. ! Oops! Door had fallen out of The Buckeye hole since I checked on the 29th! Nothing inside, but This is not surprising - They could very well have had eggs. Put the door back in and checked other holes (including Buckeye Annex); nothing. Morné has added food feeders here, but otherwise they have virtually no stored acorns left as far as I can tell. 8 June 1500. Nothing at Buckeye Annex. 1515. Nos at Buckeye, for that matter. 15 June 800. Nothing going on up here as far as I could tell. 24 June *Group Update* ?1624, j 1830 *j 1831. All last seen 23 July '70 by Mike. Gone by Amy's coususes starting 20 Sept. → D.A. 21 Aug. I 1 month. 81398. Also seen by Mike 23 July. Updated to 22 Sept. but could find no indication that he was ever seen by Amy. Hence gone 21 Aug. I 1 month. But Then seen at The Plague
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1991 1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Buckeye HNHR (24 June) power struggle on 19 May '91. So obviously did not die. 30 June This bird (81378) now roosting at Buckeye (he still has his radio on). Return him to the fold! 24 July Discovering that we couldn't find blood for 8665 today, Mark, Mone & I went up this evening to watch roosting and attempt to ambush with the pole at the hole in the Valley Oak above the granary on the hill. As it happened, that's where most everyone (4 birds?) roosted. However, even at 2020, when I went to close the hole off, they were quite skittish, and at least 3 birds flushed before I could shut off the hole. Checking it anyway, it turned out that one bird hung in there - and it was him! It's nice to be lucky every once in a while! 1992 19 January *Group Update* There must be birds here, since the granary has acorns, but Connie hasn't seen any yet! 30 March Add: 891475 & 1696, seen up here by Connie on 25 March. 1476 (June) Delete: 9987, 1478, 1697, 8665 -> last seen May 1991 (except for 91478, LS May 1990!) -> D.A. 0 Aug 1991 (90). 3 June 1960. A bird in the granary when I came up, but no obvious sign of a nest anywhere, including Buckeye Annex 5 June 1430. Trying for 81399 at the nest. 7 June 850. Trying again.
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes fornicatus Buckeye HNHR. (7 June) 856. ♂ 1398 fed, finally. 904. ♀ DP/M fed- 918. ♂ 1399 is indeed here, but wouldn't go in... 953. ♀ knocked 666er town. Resetting it. 21 June *Every Update* ♀♂ 1475 & 1696 were here in March (Connie) and again on 5 May (Jim), but must have not been planning on staying - the next here had to have been started about 2 May or so! 1 September 1430. Noone in any holes here. 11 September After several lucky close calls we appear to have missed a nest here- Valerie had a baby hanging out of the hole this morning who wasn't there by the time we got a ladder up here this afternoon. Bother! Assuming they fledged today (not certain, but as good a guess as any) this would make an est. LED of about 1 August. 9 October 615. Ambushed The nest hole and got 4 grifts: ♀ 2090, ♀ 2091 (molting to ♀) and 2 babies. Hopefully, this is all there are from the missed nest.
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1991 Walter D Koening Melanerpes formicivorus Plague HNHR 4 January # 1015. Counted stores: Main tree: 2760 20 tree: 167 Misc: 97 Total 3014 This group is doing fine, but even here the granary isn't especially full. Also, they lost a limb last month of unknown size (to me), but apparently large enough to be of note (300 holes?) 3 March *Group Update* j1865. Only seen once after fledging by Nancy on 4 Oct; gone by ~24 October → D.A. 14 Oct. ± 1 wk. 81530, 81733. Last seen 8 December; gone by 14 Jan→ D.A. 25 Dec. ± 2 wks 13 April 900. Several birds fighting here; not a real power struggle but something is definitely going on. 90s. ? or /R-w(m) #1729 drumming (8 helper) over in the locust by Jim's Garage. 7 May 1400. Lots of chasing here (and there has been for the past hour at least). Also, I mended the "traditional" rest hole. 2? → 8973 ①♀ M/Red ? ②♂ M (only band) → ③♀ Reb/Wk-LB #973 ④ LG/DB (good look) is ♀ DB /M #973. 1430. There may be only 2 birds (8973 & 8♂LG/DB ) in the central area, always following each other. There are at least 2 other birds gamracking off in the periphery somewhere. 1450. Too hard to ID the peripheral birds. Leaving. The 2 birds, at least, look pretty tight. The♂ would appear to be 81757, a Chongo baby from 1989 not seen after banding!!!
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Plague HNHR 19 May 915. lots of chasing, quarricking, etc. here. Watching. ①♂La/DB #1757 here. There are at least 5-6 birds here; 3-4 in central area alone. ②♀Rei/Yel-Da #973 here. 933. 3 birds together: 9973 + 2♂8. Mounting, etc. ③♂(?)/DB/M (could be 9973) → ⑤♀Ot/Yel-Da#973. 948. ♂DB-wN(N)/or? (N) band certain. Some serious grappling here, but I have no idea who's being chased. 955. Def. a♂M/DB and a♂DB-wN(N) 1000. ♂DB-wN(N)/LP #1398 → chased off, however ♂DB-wN(N)/Yel-Or ♂Rei/M or?? #1665? ♂NOBA stealing an acorn. 31578 (DB-wN(N)/Yel-Or #1398) here for sure. 1045. Not sure at all what's up here. ♂1757 plus (I think) 1 other♂ are solid here with 9973. Lots of other♂8, including ♂1665 (a Plague bird recently going to Chonge), ♂1398 (a Buckeye baby), and others. Unclear who's chasing and who's being chased, except for ♂1757 who's here for good I should think. 1100. ♂or/DB-wN(N) #1729. (Momie). Put net up to try and catch some birds. (Only bird eventually caught was ♂1398 from Buckeye.) 20 May Didn't watch but everything seemed very quite here all day, strangely enough. 21 May 1330. Bird in old nest hole: 4 fresh eggs! They didn't waste any time here!
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1991 Walter D. Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Plague HNHE 31 May 1145. Still 4 eggs here. I vote for only 1♀. 8 June 1400. Babies have hatched mostly: 2 babies, 1 pipped egg, and 1 infertile egg: ① 8.6g ② 4.7g. Put in a parasite board. 20 June 1030. Went up to set up the ambusher only to find the nest completely empty! 31 December 1030. Counted stores: Main Tree (Plague): 1340) 2° tree: 2 { 1345 Others 3) Even the Plague tree is only partially filled, but they do have some acorns, at least. 4 April 1400. There are a fair number - not a lot - but a fair number of acorns remaining here. I'd estimate stores at perhaps ~500 still. 10 April 1330. Set out a feeder in the 2° granary here; this is a supplemented group. 1 July Jim reports that not only the Plague Lewis' Wpkr but also the School Hill Lewis' are here at Plague. They appear to be flycatching and eating dog food just fine, but as far as he could tell were not being actively encouraged (i.e., fed) by the adults. Note that their calls are very different from acorn Wpkers; adults do not seem to go for it after they've been out of the nest awhile. On the other hand, they're still here at least and also aren't being chased away by the adults. September Noticed a ground squirrel going into the traditional hole (in the 2° granary) while checking for nests here.
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Walter D Koenig 1991 Melanerpes formicivorus H N H R 4 January 1050. The granary here is, of course, a locust, which are virtually impossible to count because of the bark. However, I gave it a whirl anyway and came up with 333 acorns. This at least places the granary into a ballpark size class; my guess is that it holds perhaps 1000 acorns and is ~60-70% full. 13 April 915.9 M/Dg #1580 in front of barn. 920.8 NOBA! Looks like a new 8 here? Haven't seen them together yet. *Group update* 8 March/Mo 81150 8 last seen 4 Feb, gone by 13 April → D.A. [illegible] + [illegible] 22 April 515. After the apparent turnover here I tried to find where roosting was. I finally tracked ≥1 bird into the high hole in the sycamore across from the lower barn near the telephone pole (the cutoff limb; 2 inches below the cut). Last night 1 bird went in, but then 2 more birds came by, eventually (after some commotion) heading off toward Knoll. This clued me into the possibility of some weirdness. The ambush this morning yielded a ♀ NOBA (now ♀1910) - not the ♂ NOBA I was hoping for. So who knows who this bird is - not me. Mark Stanback had mentioned he had a ♀ NOBA up at his feeder a few days ago, so maybe it's her? If so, presumably she's just wandering through (a real floater?). Unfortunately it means I still don't know where the Y birds are roosting. 26 May 1615. Checked the locust hole: empty (but birds were at it). 845. (6) babies and no unhatched eggs! - No! 5. See 29 May.
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1991 1992 Weltor D Koenig Melanerpes fomicivorus 2 Y (26 May) 29 May (1) BB (2) BH (3) O-H (4) GB (5) GL HNHR 8.2 11.1 [illegible] 9.0 5.7 8.6 DB Yc LP D4 1430. 18.0 20.5 18.7 Dead in hole 18.5 ! Well. On 26 May I recorded 6 babies, but "BH" and "OrB" are one and the same (both marks were on #2 above), Note that both were weighed in at exactly 11.1g on 26 May). Apparently I screwed up - there must have only been 5 babies on the 26th, one of which I counted Twice (!). Only 4 live (+ one dead) one today. 9 June 1030. Set up to get The ? for DLW. 1045. Mother ! Sample 4A 11 June 120S. Recaptured the ?! Sample 4B. 12 June 700. Got the 3! 28 June j1997 on ground near trough! Put back in granary. 29 June j1994 on ground This time (730). " " " 31 December 1045. No stores in the loosest granary here. 1992 19 January * Group update * Abandoned (!) by 11 October 1991.
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1991 1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Knoll H N H R 4 January 1100. Counted stores: 2200. This group is doing very well indeed, and their granary is pretty well full (est.: 2500 capacity). 22 April 29 April Bird in hole! (The hole I ambushed for Y (last week) Checked hole (1630): empty. 1 May " " (1515): " ". Birds in it earlier, however. 24 May 1130. Checked hole: parasite board gone (new one put in); 3 babies: ① yel 27.1 ② 28.9 ③ 19.9. 27 May 930. Checked hole: parasite board gone again. ① yel 37.0 ③ wh 38.1 ④ 28.7 5 June 1315. Set up to get The 9 for DLW. 1320. Got her! 7 June 1330. Going for the recapture. Got her! Banded & bled The babies for good Measure. 31 December 1045. Counted stores: 740. Not too shabby, considering. The tree here is reasonably full (well, not really, given capacity ca. 2500, but They to have a fair number, anyway). 1992 19 January *Group Update* J1967. KJSAB. ♀1604. Last seen 21O ct '91 (Connie), 1st not seen 7 April About 100 acorns remaining here (MTS). 1 May 1300. Climbed to the nest using the "Road 1" technique, step-ladder and all. 5 eggs, fresh. 1 July 1430. There are still a few stored acorns left here (note that this was a supplemented group).
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Moonsshine HNHR 2 June 755. Set up here for the ♀. 804. Got her! Has remains of a nice brood patch, so I suspect this is the breeder ♀. 818. Watching just in case a 3rd ♂ shows up (Stanback just captured a ♂ here earlier this morning). 900. No one feeding - at least no one besides the pair seems to be here. 4 June 825. Back for the recapture. 1010. Got her, finally. Afterwards, I bled & banded the 3 babies here.
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1991 Walten D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Pump HNHR 4 January 1110. No stores in the artificial granary tree. I also didn't see anything obvious anywhere in the corner here. 3 March *Group Update* #1696. Last seen 8 Nov, gone by 30 Nov → D.A 19 Nov ± 1 wk. #1697. Last seen 29 Jan at 1500 intruding; otherwise last seen here on 8 Nov → left group 19 Nov ± 1 wk.
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1991 Walter D. Koenig Melanerpes fomiceivorus 1500 4 January 155. Counted stores: Main tree: 2055 } 2423 2° tree: 368 } Doing quite well here, although the granary is not exactly overflooding with acorns. I'd put capacity at at least 3000. 9 April 1650. Bird in hole in granary. 13 April 930. 8' Res/DBlue #4901 seen here in passing. 7 May Monné reports 4 eggs today; was empty, I believe on 2 May, 1530. Babies, which just hatched a couple days ago, are dead! Danny pulled them out - they've been dead for a little while, but it's not obvious what their problem was. There are still some stored acorns here, so food shouldn't have been a problem. 2 June 1440. Bird in hole again! 4 fresh eggs. 10 June 815. Chuked hole: 3 eggs, incubated and close to hatching. Wonder what happened to the 4th? Still some stores in the granary. 27 June 1045. Set up to catch the ♀ for DLW. Weather is warm but breezy and overcast. Very odd for late June. 145. Got her! Bled at 1252. 28 June Danny did a watch today. 29 June 1220. Set up for the recapture. 1250. Got her'. Weather was quite overcast and relatively cool for the entire 2 days The ♀ was marked here. 4 July 1430, Banded & bled the 2 babies here, which are quite fat. 31 December 1515. Counted stores: Main tree: 635 } 888. Not too bad. 2° tree: 253 } HNHR
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1992 WaltorD Koenig Melanerpes fomicivorus 1500 4 April 1810. Bird nesting, but no stores left in the granary. HWHR
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1991 1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus 1800 4 January 1200. Counted stores: Main tree: 2475? 2475 2° tree: 0 Doing quite well here. Tree (main tree, anyway) is close to capacity. I'd guess overall capacity at about 3000. 10 April A good proportion of The Live Oak up the hill has disintegrated, taking last year's nest hole (and the other former holes in this tree) with it. Lots of stores left here, along with 2 of Moraes feeders. 940. ♀ R-C/M #787 flycatching in granary. A ♂ here also. 850. Set up to nab 9787 for DLW. 950. Got her. 19 June 1035. Back for the recapture. 1215. ♂♂ are feeding but no sign of The ♀! 1258. Finally! Got her! 15 July 1645. Lots of stores left here (a supplemented group). 31 December 1530. Counted stores: Main tree: 1505. 2° tree: 0. I can't be sure, but I suspect that many of the acorns still stored here are from last year (i.e., fall 1990). (Note that this group probably never ran out of acorns, having been supplemented all spring.) 1992 4 April 1800. There are a fair number of stores remaining here: perhaps on the order of 500+. 9 May 1800. No one in the hole in a snag way up the canyon 3/4 up Haystack that 4+ birds roosted in last night. No nest here, I guess. 15 May 1145. Birds going to and in the roost hole. Climbed up
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1992 Walter D Koening Melanerpes formicivorus 1800 HNHR (15 May) this rather precarious snag and opened the hole: 3 fresh eggs. From watching it I do think it's 1800's hole, not Hay-Blom's. 21 May 1650. Checked the hole again: 4 eggs. Thus, LED = 16 May; should hatch ~27 May. 19 June 1530. Banded and bled the 3 babies here. (One a runt.) 1 July 1530. Stores remaining in the granary here. 5 September 1715. Stores are exhausted here, or very nearly so. 7 September 1500. Watching hole from spring. 1515. Bird fed!! 1600. Climbing the hole, 1 baby jumped out; Alice, a prospective student who happened to be with me, got him. Hole was otherwise empty, so unless he's the last to go, it's a brood of 1 here. I took him back to the Lab to band & bleed and returned him at 1630. Holy cow!
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Horse tail HNHR 27 January *Group update* ♀1793. Not here in December (12/6), but here with the ♂NOBA on 13 Jan. → Moved (from Arf, tod) ~ 24 Dec ± 2 wks 3 March *Group Update* ♀#(514, 1893). Last seen 6 Dec, gone by 13 Jan → D.A. 25 Dec. ± 2 wks. (Victims of The freeze, perhaps?) ♀1793. Only here briefly (seen on 13 Jan); gone by 14 Feb. → D.A. 28 Jan ± 2 wks. There is a new ♂ there as of 14 Feb: ♂1374, formerly of SH West. 23 May 935. Sat here for ~20 min neither seeing nor hearing any sign of birds here. 24 June *Group Update* Abandoned ~ 30 March ± 2 wks. No sign of birds here this spring.
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1991 1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Hay-Blom HNHR 5 January 1640. Counted stores: 3270. Doing just dantly here; est. capacity 3500. 3 March *Group Update* 61762. Last seen 14 June 1990, gone by 3 October, → D.A. 8 Aug ±2m. 61084. Last seen 27 Nov; either gone or lying very low since then. (28 Jan def. gone) → D.A. 27 Dec. ±1 mo. 15 May Watched here for an hour or so this morning, getting few cues as to a nest, although they do seem to be heading down into the forest relatively frequently. I did see a bird (and on Morni's feeder in the granary and take a piece of dog food. 850. Fm(Blk-Yel) #1648 from Blomone intruding here. 855. ♀ Yel-Red (Red) #1078 in granary. 945. Found a new hole in the forest near the old one; watched it for 20 min but no one came by. Still looks like a good possibility to me. 31 December 1630. Counted stores: 3100. These guys are essentially doing as well as last year! Again, is this partially because they were supplemented? Maybe they never ran out of stores? (Maybe Morni noted this.) Looking again, The majority of acorns stores are almost certainly new (this year's). There may be some old ones, but it's rather hard to tell. 1992 4 April 1810. A good number of stores still here, probably on the order of 1000 or maybe a few more. 3 June 845. Watching. There are still plenty of stores left here.
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1992 WalborD Poemg Melanerpes formicivorus Hay-Blom HNHR (3 June) 1015. Watched the birds (actually, I never saw more than 2) flycatching, mostly from the Hastings nest tree. They occasionally flew elsewhere, but I generally followed them and never got any hint of nesting activity. 7 June 115D. Still plenty of stores left here. Why no nest? Or, perhaps more likely, why can't we find the nest? !July 1345. Hung out here for a bit and checked holes, but found no sign of anything going on. 30 August 1120. Checked around here; The birds are around, but nobody in any holes. Amazingly enough, they appear to have run through their stores here: lots of shells remain, but virtually no potentially intact acorns!
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1991 WaltorD Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Lower Haystack HNHR 5 January 1700. Counted stores: Main tree: 4660 2° tree: 610 5270. Doing fine, but they to have even more space than This. I'd guess capacity to be ~6500. 4 March *Group Update* jl897. Not seen since banding on 4 July. @1723. Last seen 16 Oct, gone by 29 Oct → D.A. 23 Oct ±1 wk. 9 April 845. Watching. Lots of stores still here, by the way. 900. Birds sapsucking over in saddle area; moving blind. 915.①♂/DB-? #1629 sapsucking. 930.①♀ wm-/DB-cm(n)#1679 sapsucking on [illegible] her own. 934.③♂ &db/m #1896. ↑57.⑩♂ -DB/Yel #1521. 1014.⑤♂ Bk/-cm #1155. 1040. Stopping. See guarding data on back. No sign of mate-guarding as yet, but everyone's here (with the possible exception of 8/1898). 13 April 1000. Watching again for a bit. ⑩♂ / rel#1521. 1130. Got some mate-guarding, but I have to catch some 88 here; The only I I can identify reasonably well is 8/1896. The 3 breeder 88 are very difficult to discriminate from a distance. 23 April 800. Watching. 835.⑤ b.h. 840. ④ w/ 8/1155 900. End. Spending time sapsucking over by Fortatauga. 900. Checked the traditional granary hole: empty. 27 April 930. ④ in traditional granary hole: still empty, though. 28 April 1445. Checked traditional hole & hole in "saddle" VO: both empty still.
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Mate-guarding - 9 April 920. ♀ 81679 w/ 81629 (sapsucking) ♀ flew off; not followed 925. ♀ by herself 930. ♀ 81679 b.h. sapsuckin 935. ♀ 81679 w/ 81896. (♀flew off) in granary 1000. ♀ b.h. 1010. ♀ b.h. in sap area 1015. ♀ b.h. 1020. ♀ b.h. -in granary 1025. ♀ b.h. 1040. ♀ w/ 81629 + 81521. 81521 flew off; ♀ did not follow (end) Mate-guarding 13 April 1020. ♀ in granary b.h. 1025. ♀ in old nut area b.h. 1035. ♀ w/ 81521 (I think) ♀ flew off; ⚫ DNF 1040. ♀ w/ 81521 ♀ flew off, ⚫ DNF 1045. ♀ b.h. 1100. ♀ w/ 81155 (I think) in granary. 1105. ♀ w/ 81155 & 81521 (I think). ♀ flew off, not followed. Summary ♀ by herself: 7 w/ 81521: 1 {at same time w/ 81629: 1 w/ 81896: 1 (Helper) ♀ flew off once from 81629; ⚫ did not follow 81521 flew away from ♀ once; ⚫ did not follow Summary ♀ by herself: 3 w/ 81155: 2 w/ 81521: 3 F DNF ♀ flew off 81155 0 1 81521 0 3
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1991 Walter D Koening Melanerpes fornicivorus Lower Haystack HNHR 30 April 1700. Bird in traditional hole: 1 egg! (Marked #1). 22 May 1745. Bird still in nest hole, despite having infertile eggs (fide MTS). (They should have hatched several days ago.) 3 June 945. No one in hole. Climbed up: 5 eggs still there (inc. my #1); definitely dead. Note, however, that one was a runt egg (and this egg was not laid first). I removed the eggs and checked other holes. There are, by the way, plenty of stores left here. 14 June 1000. 9 in hole in saddle tree! Climbed up: 1 fresh egg! 17 June 1030. Checked hole to confirm that this is the world's first AW 1-egg clutch! (Incubation was in full steam on the 14th; plus, the egg, although fresh, wasn't quite fresh enough). Amazing. Presumably two facts might be pertinent. First, the 9 here has problems (note the 5 infertile eggs [inc. 1 runt] at the 1st nest). Second, the hole here is very woody and has only a small area of wood chips for eggs. (Surely there is space for another couple eggs, however....) 22 June 1000. Well, an embarrassing moment. Turns out There's a "lower compartment" to the nest that I missed entirely! (Danny had reported "2 babies & 2 eggs" yesterday). Turns out there are 2 babies and 3 unhatched eggs, at least one of which looks developed but unpipped. The 2 babies: 5 17.8 2 15.2 Put in a parasite board. Hatched ~ 18 June? 25 June 1800. jOr dead in nest! Exposure, apparently; the other was fine. Maybe got stuck in wrong sector of the nest? I took tissue from him in any case (#2006). Also retrieved The Parasite board.
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1991 Walter D Koenig 1992 Melanerpes formicivorus Lower Haystack HNHS 28 June 2000. 3 in the nest when I got here stayed; see back for markings which may be distinctive enough to identify him, eventually at least. 30 June Something happened tonight but I think it was a different 8. See back for head markings 2008. No! At The last minute 8 at LS/M #1155 replaced the 1st 8 and roosted in the nest! 3 July 910. Set up to get the 8 with 1 baby in the nest (for DLW). 1100. Hot! No visits! I give up! 6 July 2009. 81155 roosted in The nest again tonight. 31 December 1645. Counted stores: Main tree: 2350 ? 2nd tree: 0 2350. Not too shabby, but the granary is not anywhere near capacity. Some of the acorns look old and I bet they never ran out here this summer. 1992 19 January *Census update* 81898. Last seen 9 Feb. 1991! Never seen last spring, 1st reasonable census on 9 April → D.A., 9 March ± 1 month. 4 April 1840. It's pretty dark, but there are definitely acorns still here, perhaps 1000 or so. 3 June 830. Walked around, but no sign of anyone. 7 June 1130. At least 3 birds seen here. Still no nest though. There are stores remaining in the granary here. 9 June 930. There are 2 birds hanging out consistently over by the Telephone Pole over on the Horsebench property. 1045. 3 birds together in the canyon
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8 Roosting in nest 28 June Note the point to the rather large black blob. 8 Not roosting (replaced by 81155) 30 June Note the "double point"
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Lower Haystack HNHE (9 June) 1115. Well, There are 3 birds just like there are supposed to be, plus, I sure can't find any sign of a nest. I pretty much believe there isn't one at this point. 16 June 1500. A fair number of acorns remain here. 1 July 1430. Hung out here for 1/2 hr or so, but the place was completely dead. Didn't even see the birds over past far Tortuga. Certainly no sign of a nest. 30 August 1100. Bird flushed from the traditional hole in the granary, but it's empty. Otherwise there are still some stores left there in the granary but no sign of a nest.
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1991 1992 Walter D Koening Melanerpes formicivorus Blomone HNHR 27 January *Group update* jl848, 1850. NSAB. Not in AK's notes? 4 March ♀ 1167, ♀1849. Last seen 3 Dec '90, gone by 7 Jan. → D.A. 20 Dec. ± 2 wks. 9 April 1700. Walking by here I found the mummified corpse of a ♀ Mauve-LBlue/Mauve-LBlue#1849 under one of the row trees Bird recorded as "Disappeared" (last December) leading to last year's nest hole (the tree before it, to be precise). There is a hole in this tree that was a nest several years ago; it's currently plugged up (by rodents?). Not sure these 2 phenomena are related; probably not. In any case, the bird isn't is all tried out but feathers are still obvious in some areas. My guess is that it's ~1 mo old?? 2 May 845. Cleaned out the beginnings of a starling nest from last year's nest hole here. 15 May ♀1648 intruding up at Hay-Blom. See H-B notes. 15 July 1500. Group is out of stored acorns. 1992 Group abandoned as of October! 12 June ♀ 1915. Bird in new high hole in granary. Roosting? or a nest? 13 June 1000. Checked the hole by peeping it. Empty, best I could tell. False alarm. 30 August 1200. ♀ in same hole as on 12 June; I didn't hear anything when he flushed, but there could certainly be something going on there. 1 September 1030. Indeed There is! 3 opaque eggs + 1 hatchling! Clutch was apparently 4; est LED = 21 August! Note that this
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1992 Walter D Foening Melanerpes formicivorus Blemou (1 September) group was never supplemented (except for a couple of additions when a tray was set out) and is currently out of stores; thus, this would seem to be inevitably a fall nest... HNHR
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1991 1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes fomnicivorus Blountree HNHR 9 April 1150. Flushed 2 birds from here. Also, there are at least some stores left in the nest tree. 13 June 700. Set up to get The ♀ for DLW. 745. Got her! 15 June 845. Back for the recapture. 920. Got her! 18 June Banded the babies here this morning with Mark and Morne: #1999-2001! Had a party for the 2000th bird. 24 June *Group Update* ♂ 1868. Last seen 3 Feb '91 by Amy. No other censuses here until the next, but gone then by ~15 May. → D.A. 24 March = 1 month. 15 July 1505. Group is out of stores here (but still being supplemented with dog food). 1992 23 April 1100. 1 bird calling here. 4 May 1705. 2 birds here. 1 in granary: ♀ R-81k / Laren (through binoculars). 1708: ⚡wn-at/M Birds checking out holes here. ↑Possibly ♂ Mv-Yel/Wht Mv-Rbt/M # 857, a helper from H-Blom Definitely new birds here, at any rate! 5 May 740. Watching with scope! ♂ Mv-Rbt/M #1857 yes! 745. ♀ M/or ♀ Or-DG/LG #1918(?!) Should do it. Seems to be the only 2 birds here. Still checking holes & each other; can't have been here very long. [Would appear to be ♀ 1918, a Lambert nestling. (1990) NSAB!!!] 11 May 1300. Bird in last year's nest hole! Checked it: in good shape but empty. 14 May 1030. Hole checked: still empty.
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1992 Walter D. Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Blondwoo HNTK 26 May 1200. ♀ M/or #1918 here, but noone in any holes. 3 June 1045. Bird in hole! Checked it: 3 eggs, incubated. 13 June 1015. Checked hole: 2 babies, ~ 5-6 d.o. 30 June 1530. Banded and bled the 2 babies here as #2123-2124.
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1991 Waltwd Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Blontwice HNHR 4 March *Gourp Leptate* ♂ turnover! ♂681. Last seen 21 Oct, gone by 1 Feb. →D.A. 11 Dec. ± 6 wks. Replaced by a new ♂NOBA. (85345) 13 April 1140. There are some stores left here, as well as at least a couple of birds. 19 May 1500. Still a few stores here and (!) a bird in the lower of the 2 old holes in the traditional nest tree! It has hatchlings! 2, in fact, along with 2 unhatched eggs, one of which looks opaque and the other possibly infertile. (This is from peeping; the hole has been considerably deepened.) Clutch size here was definitely 4 (shells in nest match the 2 hatchlings). 20 May 1430. Opened the hole, put in a parasite board, and set up an ambush. Now 3 babies + 1 infertile egg. 23 May 1115. Picked up the parasite board and measured the 3 babies: ① 17.5 ② 16.6 ③ 8.3. 3 June 815 Set up to get the ♂NOBA here at the nest. 900. ♂ in! But turns out the 2 holes are connected! Will have to try again later. All 3 babies still here, at any rate. 4 June 915. Trying again. 940. Got him! 6 June 840. Set up for the ♀ this time (DLW). All 3 babies fine. 920. ♀ here, but very skittish—apparently they know that the connection is plugged up with some foreign material. Moving on & will return. 1145. ♀ feeding, but no sign of the ♂, so I let her be.
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1991 1992 WalttrD Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Blomthnes HNHR (6 June) 1147. Wait! Here he is! 1155. They're feeding acorn bits here(!) 1200. He finally fed. But I'll have to wait at this point. 7 June 825. Back again. 845. Got her! 9 June 855. Set for the recapture. 910. Got her! Banded & bled the 3 babies also. 15 July 1510. Group out of stored acorns here. 1992 Group abandoned by fall 1991! 4 May 1700. Bird in hole. 2nd bird nearby! 5 May 830. Checked the hole (traditional hole in nest tree): empty but in fairly good shape. 910. 8 DB-BLK/EB or DB/LB (perhaps 81883 from SH4: [illegible])? 940. Things slow here. I'm off. 11 May 1245. 8 DK/DK-LB #1929 on top of main nest tree. Checked hole: remains in good shape but empty. 14 May 1045. None in holes here (hole not checked). 13 June 1035. 8 LB/M ?? on top of nest tree; 2nd bird here also. None in any holes, however. Who is this bird? Definitely not one of the 88 who's supposed to be here.
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1991 WalteD Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Gazebo HNHR 27 January *Group Update* 81644. Last seen 21 July, gone by 2 October → DA. 27 Aug ± 1 month. 11 May 1415. Set up an ambusher, put in a parasite board, and cleared out a Starling nest from the knothole (4 babies). 14 May 1415. Set up to try and nab the 9NOBA. 1600. The ambusher screwed up, but she (and 9653 to boot) were nice enough to stay put and let me catch them. 9653 I immediately stuffed back into the hole; the 9NOBA is now 91911. Oh! I couldn't find the parasite board, so I presume they removed it! *Group Update* 991415 & 1473. Here 1 Feb, Moved to Westgate ~ 1 April ± 2 wks 27 May 1130. Banded the 5 babies here, #1927-1931. Just as I got to The top of the vope to return them to the hole I saw the tail of a gopher snake disappearing into the next hole! Wow! Talk about timing - an hour later and they would have been snake food; 1 min. earlier or later and I would have missed the snake, most likely stuffing the babies back into their hole directly into the jaws of the snake as I wished them "live long and prosper". I removed the snake, who was good size but not huge, and took him over to Blomone (Starling nest, if I can find one). 32 July 8 March Update → 91911. LS 8 Oct 91, gone by 6 March → DA. 25 Dec ± 2 mo 91928. Same. NB! At CV#2!
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1992 Walter D. Koenig 2 Melanerpes formicivorus Gazebo HNHR (8 March) Connie has just figured out that both $1911 & $1930 were at CV#2. However, $1911 was chasing $1930, who's back here now. So it looks like $1911 (only) has moved to CV#2 for now. 4 April 1850. It's too dark to be confident of numbers, but there are definitely stores remaining here; a wild guess based on little hard evidence would be no more than 500. 23 April 1030. Checked last year's nest hole on a bark after clearing out a Starling nest in the high knothole: 3 fresh eggs, marked (by me) #1-3! 19 May Injected the $ here this morning after Stanback caught her (plus one of the 6 helpers) roosting together. 21 May 640. Set up for the recapture, finally. 730. Got her! Bled at 736; wt: 75.4 gm. Checked nest: 4 babies. 1 June 1100. Banded the 4 babies; the 2 Lewis' Wapters here look fine. 1 July 1400. Group is out of stores; it's likely they've run out recently, though, based on the shells that are left. 30 August 1145. No acorns; nobody in any holes here (in the main granary area, at any rate).
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1991 Walter D. Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus CV Grande HNHR 27 January *Group Update* 4 Oct. δ1615. Last seen 26 May, gone by ~29 Sept → D.A. 30 July ±2mo. 4 March δ1745. Last seen 30 Nov. '90, gone by 11 Jan→DA 21 Dec±3wks 17 May 1935. Watched roosting here: both♂♀ roosted in the nest: ♂1081 came ~1930 followed fairly late (1935) by δ1079. [illegible] 19 May 1945. Roger watched and noted only ♂1081 roosting in the nest. No sign of δ1079, at least by 1942. 22 May Roger watched once again and again reported only ♂1081 roosted in the nest. 25 May 815. No parasite board, but new one put in. Two big babies here. 28 May 1530. Added 3 Lewis' Woodpecker transplants to the nest! 29 May 1515. Parasite board gone again. Babies weighed: AW①67.6 AW②53.0 LW③65.0 ④80.0 ⑤71.5. Plastic bands removed from the Lewis' (except for #3). 30 May Roger watched roosting tonight: ♂1081 roosted in the nest. 5 June 1100. Set up to get δ1042 for labelled water. 1140. Got her! 24 June *Group Update* δ1827. Last seen 6 Feb, gone by 27 March (census by Roger) →D.A. 1 March ±3wks. δ1828 + δ1824. Last seen by Roger 27 March. Gone by nesting ~1 May → D.A. 15 Apr.±2wks. 15 July 1520. Still some stores remaining here.
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus CV Gerande H N H R 19 January *Group Update* No sign of Lewis' Wptos! ♀ 1479. Last seen 30 May '91, gone by June 9th (MTS & WDK watched to catch 6yrfs) -> D.A. 4 June ± 5d. ♂ 1081. Last seen 9 June, gone by 7 Oct -> D.A. 8 Aug ± 2 months. 8 March ♀ 1747. Last seen 7 Oct, gone by 10 Jan '92 -> D.A. 23 Nov ± 1 mo ♂ 1824. Last seen 17 Oct, "" "" "" -> D.A. 18 Nov ± 1 mo ♂ 1957 "" "" 7 Oct, "" "" "" -> D.A 23 Nov ± 1 mo 10 April 1430. Set out a feeder in the granary; this is a supplemented group. 25 April 1345. Checked the hole in the Live Oak over the creek with Mark: 4 eggs, fresh, as best I could tell (the hole went back farther than I could reach and there could have been more eggs there). 23 June 1300. Acorns remaining here (supplemented group). 5 October 1600. Banded the 2 babies - pathetically underweight & underdeveloped but OK. 4 November 630. Ambushed the old F-troop hole, getting 61079 & a fall baby. The latter still had a dark eye and looked quite babyish, but was molting a few crown feathers. If indeed it was changing sex already (?), he's a ♂ (#2172). Still after that missed juv, however. 11 November 800. Ambushed 2 holes here. In the crumbly hole by the creek I got 61666, 62038, and a 3NOBA. I Have no idea who the latter is, but he's now 62078. In the hole up above the '92 1st nest hole (unopened) we got a baby (j2171) and ♀ Lareen, the baby that we lost from the 1st nest. She's now ♀2179. So Yea! But who the hell is the ♂?? Skig says he's definitely seen him in the area before.
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1991 1992 WaltwD Koenig Melanerpes fomnicivorus CV#1 HNHR 29 May Mark added 1 transplanted Lewis' Woodpecker to the brood of 4 here. 15 June Mark reports seeing a fledgling Lewis' Wdper here today! 1992 8 March *Group Update* ♀(1810. Last seen 15 June, gone by 21 Oct → D.A. 18 Aug ± 2mo 10 April 1500. Set out a feeder in the large Vo granary; this is a supplemented group. 1 July 1516. Stored acorns remaining here. 30 September 1015. Banded & bled the 2 babies here!
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1991 1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Murf HNHR 27 January *Group Update* ♀1485. Last seen 7 Jan 1990. Never got a good census here (no nest) but prob. gone by 18 Feb → DA 28 Jan ±2 wks 6966. Last seen 25 July, gone by 6 Oct → DA 31 Aug ±1 Mo. 15 July 1515. Out of stores here. Also no sign of a nest or birds. 1992 19 January ♂967 gone by fall (October). Bird last seen here 15 June. 10 April 1500. Set out 2 feeders here; this is a supplemented group. 16 April 1600. Removed a starting nest (3 babies, 1 unhatched egg) out of the old(er) hole in the Valley Oak overlooking the field (facing up the canyon, in between CV proper and Cvette). 1630. And a 2nd (with 6 small babies) in one of the nest trees (above) CV. 26 May 1942. Either ♂1774 or ♂1813 roosted in the nest tonight; unfortunately, he zipped in so fast I wasn't sure which (though ♂1813 would be pretty hard to see, facilitating the difficulty; hence, if I had to make a choice, I'd go for ♂1813). 27 May Tim watched roosting tonight (Stauback had caught and painted ♂1774) and it was not him; hence, the weight of the evidence points again to ♂1813.
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1991 7992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus CV#2 HNHR 31 May 1430. A fair number of stores remaining here, but still no sign of a nest (according to the field list we presumably have a Finch effect here with no breeding F). 24 June *Group Leptale* 86 1680 ♀ (778. Both seen by Amy 6 Feb, gone by 15 June → D.A. 1 April ± 2 month. 1992 8 March New ♂♀ here! ♂1781. last seen 25 oct '91, gone by 27 Feb →D.A. 25 Dec ± 2 months. 1 July 1515. Lots of stores remaining here. (Not even a supplemented group!)
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1991 Walter D Koenig 1992 Melanerpes fomticivorus OK Corral HNHR 27 January *Group Update* 81394. Returned! First seen 2 Nov '90, last time not here on 18 Oct. '90 → Returned ~25 Oct ± 1 wk. 4 March In the meantime, it would finally seem appropriate to knock off 8886, 91160, and 81391, all of whom were last seen on 21 Feb 1990. Very possibly 8886 wasn't even around for the breeding season, but this is up in the air (they were already missing a breeding ♀). I'll more or less arbitrarily have them all disappearing on 31 March 1990. 31 May. 1420. Group appears to be out of acorns. None in any holes. None even seen, in fact: 4 June 1015. Flushed a bird from here. Watching for a spell. 1100. Not much going on. Certainly nothing dramatic or dubious. 24 June *Group Update* 91640. Last seen 13 Feb by Amy, gone by 10 June → DA 1 Apr ±2 mo. 1992 19 January 91639. last seen 10 June, gone by 25 Oct → DA. 17 Aug ±2 mo. 81394. " " 15 June, " " →DA. 10 April 1530. Set out 2 feeders here in the granary; this is a supplemented group. 23 June 1300. Opened the nest here: 4 babies, 54.8 (29), 55.1 (30), 52.2 (27), 42.0 (23); This makes them about 13 do. 29 June 930. Set up for nest ambush. 1050. Got the ♀! 1110. Trying a bit longer for ♂ NOBA. ♂ - was in #1394 seen earlier. 1140. Quitting for now. Will try again tomorrow.
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1992 Walter D. Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus OK Corral HNHR 30 June 1145. Back to try for the ♂. 1212. ♀2118 fed. 1220. ♂1394 fed. 1315. No sign of ♂NOBA; other 2 feeding fairly regularly. 1350. Gave up and caught ♂1394 for blood! Also took the babies and banded them as #2119-2122. 4 July 515. Caught ♂1394 and ♀2118 roosting together in The tree just up from The nest tree; I just let both go after they finally came out of The hole. Meanwhile, this means that the 3rd bird, which Jim saw go into the roost hole last night, was indeed ♂NOBA. Maybe I'll try there tonight. 2015. None roosted in The nest tonight. However, it turns out that there was 1 dead, smelly chick inside (DD-whitN/white); so perhaps That's why he didn't go in. (The other 3 are OK.) 29 August 515. Ambushed at 2 of the holes (connected) in The '92 1st nest tree, but it was mostly a dud- there appears to be yet a third exit up higher on The limb! However, there was one bird inside - a ♀ NOBA! In the old days I'd say we screwed up somehow, but of course we know now that she could very well be a floater. (Then again, I believe there was supposedly both ♂NOBA ♂ and ♀ hanging out here last spring, so maybe this is The latter?) She's now #2136. 3 November 700. Ambushed at a new hole in the Sycamore, but only 1 bird (♂2121) roosted in it.
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1992 Walter D Keering Melanerpes formicivorus Outback 12 May 1730. Over here looking for a nonexistent Bluebird nest, we found the nest, in a new hole (but climbable), with 2 fresh eggs in it. If nothing else, this means returning to band on or about 16 June. HNTER
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1991 WaltrnD Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Upper PTH HNNR 27 January *Group update* juvs 1818, 1819, 1820, 1821, 1829→ All gone! Only 1819 was seen after banding ♀♂ on 20 June, gone by 6 Oct → Aug ± 2 months. δ1713. Last seen 15 May, gone by 6 Oct. → D.A. 26 July ± 2 mo. 7 April 930. There are stores remaining here. Saw ♀ NOBA, in a rather tight flock of 4 grifs. Presumably this suggests they're mate-quarting here. 30 April 815. Saw ♀ NDBA, ♂ M/E-WCN) #1285 up here. 2 May 710. Watching up here for a bit. 6 May 900. Found a hole new to me in the next tree facing CVarande (roughly)! Tried to peep it, but couldn't really see the bottom. 11 May 1500. Still noone in any of the known holes up here. I'm beginning to wonder about these guys... 16 May 715. ♀ in last year's nest hole! Checked: 4 eggs, clear but not laid today. Set up an ambush for the eventual capture of the ♀. 18 May 1410. Peeped the nest here, confirming a final clutch size of 4. 25 May 830. Checked nest: 3 hatchlings plus one unhatched and infertile egg. Babies surely hatched within the last 24 hrs. 29 May 1545. 2 live and 1 dead baby. Parasite board gone. ① Orb 26.5 ② DBB 20.5 ③ (Dead) 19.0. The dead baby, who looked good otherwise, was taken for a tissue sample. Mark looked at him and noted general marks typical of an abused baby - red tip of wing, ☑ in bill, etc. It is fat, though. I took some tissue and made him #1945. 30 May 2000. I watched roosting here but nobody came!? Hopefully
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1991 1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Upper PHF HNEUR (30 May) The bird who was in the hole when I got there had stayed in, even though I'd climbed up to the hole to scare him out. I don't think I scared anybody away otherwise, and no one else even came to the hole (even though I could hear them elsewhere in the tree and eventually roosting nearby). 2 June 1515. Hole completely empty! Note my roost watch above; if indeed I keep a bird from roosting that may have been enough to kill the nest. Predation can't be ruled out, however. There are stores remaining here, by the way. 14 June 900. No sign of anyone up here. So what's going on? Why aren't they renesting? 15 July 1525. Still stores here. No sign of birds, though (except for MPHF birds hanging out here). 1992 4 April 1340. There are just a few intact acorns remaining here in the main gravany. 10 April 1600. Set out a feeder in the nest tree; this is a supplemented group this year. 18 April 515. At long last, an ambush in a new hole in the nest tree netted all 4 birds, including the ♀ NOBA. End of an era. We bled everyone and then Mark took 2 of the 38 in to be lapped. 9 May 1000. Bird flushed from the blue oak with holes over in The little canyon N of main PHF area; a nest?
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus UPHF HNHR (9 May) 110D. Nobody's returned to the suspect tree, best I can tell. Maybe they haven't started yet after all. 1715. Bird in hole! We got it! Must have eggs still. 12 May 1500. Opened Hole: 3 eggs; 2 opaque (incubated at least several days), 1 not developing, apparently. 20 May 1900. 2 babies, 1 unhatched egg. Wts: 13.5; 12.2 gm. (≈3 do; hatched ~17 May) (5.1285 in nest) 1940. Watched roosting here: 3(285) (8M/2-W(N)) roosted in the nest by himself. 3 June 2000. None roosting in the nest, presumably at least in part due to Stanback's T implants. Bird in hole when Val arrived to roost watch 1 July 1500. No stores left, best I can tell. 25 August 1400. Opened the spring nest, where there are 3 babies! ① 51.6 (28) ② 53.2 (30) ③ 53.0 (27) [≈13 do Est LED=1 Aug] This group has not been supplemented since 15 July, but may have been given some food... But note: There are some blue oaks already dropping acorns right nearby - could these early trees (many of whose acorns are largely damaged) have prompted this? 4 September 1130. Banded the 3 babies here. (See capture records for measurements).
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1991 Walter Pfenig Melanerpes formicivorus Middle PHF HNHR 27 January *Group update* 1840. NSAB. 5 April 2045. Captured 4 birds (♀1531, ♂1613, ♂779, ♂1780) in the higher hole (newly opened) in the Valley Oak Tonight. I painted them up with The hope of aiding identification for mate-guarding. 7 April 80%. Watching. Trying for a mate-guarding watch. 820. Over in The side: ♂Da/Rei-Da chased off by ♀ or/or-w/n #1863 (LPHF). Not sure who this was. I probably mixed up the bands or leg. 1030. Giving up. Not great, but I did actually get some data (see back). No sign of guarding as yet. I did see the 2 breeding ♀♀, ♂1613, and ♂1780. I also did not see ♂779. But there is certainly at (least one) unmarked ♂, presumably ♂1614, here as well. 11 April 755-100. Did another "non"-mate-guarding watch with reasonable success. Again I eventually identified everyone (including ♂1614) except for ♂779. See back for compilation. 17 April 800-930. Mate-guarding watch; still no sign! But I did finally see ♂779. See back for transcription. 22 April 1015-1200. Mate-guarding watch: 1015. ♂1533 b.h. 1025. ♂1533 b.h. 1035. ♂1531 w/ ♂1613, ♂1614 ♂1614 flew off, ♂DNF ♂1613 flew off, ♂DNF 1040. ♂1533 b.h. (at hole) 1100. ♂1533 w/ ♂1613, ♂1614, ♂1780 ♂1614 flew off, ♂DNF ♂1780 flew off, ♂DNF ♂1533 flew off, ♂1613 followed 1130. ♂1531 w/ ♂1533 1135. " " 1140. ♂1533 b.h. 1145. ♂1533 b.h. Saw birds on the styrofoam granary; also, several birds hung out on $ in a hole which I'll have to open later today.
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Mate-quariting watch 800-1030 7 April 810. $1533 w/ $1613 811. $ flew, followed by $1613 840. $1533 by herself (BH) 845. $1533 BH 850. $1533 BH B55. $1533 BH 930. $1531 BH 935. $1531 BH 940. $1531 BH 945. $1531 BH 950. $1533 w/ $1614 952. $1614 flew off, $ did not follow. Mate-quariting watch 755-1000 11 April 755. $1533 & $1531 w/ $1613 + $1780 800 $1533 & $1531 w/ $1613 + $1780 805. " " w/ " " 810. " " w/ " " 815. $1531 w/ $1780 + $1613 $1533 flew off, none followed 815. $1531 w/ $1780 - $1613 $1531 flew off, none followed 825. $1533 w/ $1613 $1780 $1614 together $1533 flew, not followed 915. $1533 by herself 920 $1533 " " 925. $1533 w/ $1613 950. $1533 by herself. END Mate-quariting watch 800-930 17 April 800. $1533 b.h. 805. $1533 w/ $1613. $ flew, $1613 DNF 815. $1533 w/ $1613, $1614, $1780 $ flew, none of the 3 followed. 820. $1533 b.h. 825. $1533 b.h. -> $1531 b.h. 835. $1533 b.h. 840. $1533 b.h. Summary $1531 BH 4 $1533 BH 4 w/ $1613 1 w/ $1614 1 w/ both 0 ($1533 flew off once, fb $1613) ($1614 flew off once, Not fb $1533) This $ not ID'd except by default Summary $1531 bh. 0 w/ $1613 #5 $1614 H $1780 #5 $1533 bh. (3) w/ $1613 (6) $1614 (1) H $1780 (3) $1531 flew off, $1613, $1780 DNF $1533 flew off 2 times $1613 O 0 DNF $1614 O 1 H $1780 O 2 845. $1531 b.h.; $1533 b.h. 855. $1533 b.h. 900. $1533 w/ $1780 ; $1531 by herself. $ flew, $1780 DNF 910. $1531 w/ $1780 $1780 flew (8DNF) 915. $1531 w/ $1613 $ flew, $1613 DNF 925. $1531 w/ $1614, $1780 $ flew, 88 DNF 930. END
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1991 Walturd Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Middle PHF HINHR (22 April) 1530. Opened the hole where the birds were looking this morning: empty but nice. Might be worth watching tomorrow morning! Also: there are several pieces of dog food from Marnie's artificial granaries/feeders up in the tree nicely stored. 23 April 620. Watching the hole. Just checked it to confirm that it's empty. 720. No sign of any interest at the moment. None even came by to look. 27 April 800. Watching here for mate-guarding. 843. Just saw a ♂ fly off with part of an egg-shell! Egg-tossing has already started! 900. Well, this is pretty discouraging from the mate-guarding viewpoint. Best I could tell there was essentially no mate-guarding 5 days ago. Today they are definitely hanging out together, but it's simply too hard, even with my marks (most of which are very faded and hard to see), to identify all the birds together at a time with any real confidence. And now egg-tossing has already started, and I'm not even sure what hole they're using. Sort of a disaster all around, I'd say. I guess I'll watch early tomorrow and at least figure out where, and perhaps get some egg-tossing information. 28 April 615. Watching. Checked the hole I think they're probably using; it's empty. 630. Going to the roost hole in last year's nest tree; a starling is also. ♂ Starling in the hole. ♂(613, ♀1535 came and looked only. 640. Starling finally left.
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Middle PHF HNHR (28 April) 715. Argh'. Hole is several inches deeper than last year; could not reach the bottom! But based on probing with a stick, I don't think there was an egg. 725. Have to leave. Moni will watch for a bit, I hope. 1330. Moni reports: ♀1533 spent more time inside; ♀1531 went to hole once but did not go in. Mark later peeped the hole to find 1 egg (normal). Hence: today, at least, ♀1533 laid, not tossed as of ~1000 or so. 1400. Opened the hole: 1 egg still there (marked #1). It is quite spherical. 1630. Still 1 egg. Set up to videotape tomorrow morning. 29 April 610. Still the #1 egg in hole! Set up the video camera and watching. 800. Well! ♀1533 laid, ♀1531 tossed; unfortunately, this all happened in an entirely different hole than the one ♀1533 laid in yesterday. Watched ♂1613 eat some of the egg at 815. 830. ♀1531 in hole - she could have laid also. Unfortunately the hole is too deep. 1000. Hole empty. I don't think ♀1531 laid; ♀1533 was in the hole afterwards and didn't toss anything. I also got mate-guarding (such as it were) on the birds; see back. 30 April 1000. Watched again this morning. This time they were going into yet another (unopened) hole, which meant that I'm not sure if anyone laid or not. ♀1533 went in ~725, later ♀1531 went in and did not toss. I left not too long afterwards and by the time I got back to open the hole it was empty.
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29 April 615-815 Mate-guarding +egg-toss (Egg-laying) 630.♀1533 w/ ♂1614 635.♀1533 w/ ♂1614 640.♀1533 6.h. 645.♀1531,♀1533,♂1613,♂1614 ♂1614 flew off! ♀1533 followed by ♂1613 650.♀1531,♀1533 655.♀1531 w/ ♂1614 655. " " " ♀1531 flew, ⚠️DNF 700.♀1533 w/ ♂1614 (♀1531 6.h. 705.♀1531 w/ ♂1613 ♂1613 flew off! 705.♀1531,♀1533 710 " " w/ ♂1780 ♂1780 flew 715.♀1531 6.h. 720.♀1531 6.h. 725.♀1531,♀1533 w/ ♂1613 ♂1613 flew off! 800-♀1533 laid, as she came out ♀1531 went in & tossed (egg same shape as the one yesterday) 805. Egg being eaten by ♂1613 805.♀1533 w/ ♂1613+♂1614 810. " w/ ♂1613 ♂1613 flew, ⚠️followed ❗don't know if ♂ followed
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus MPHF (30 April) My guess, based on $1533's late egg yesterday, is that nobody laid today and that we're talking a break before starting again. (It's possible, even likely, that $1533 has laid a full clutch already (after all, I know she's laid 3 eggs at least). See compilation (with some mate-guarding) on the back. Note that I actually saw a copulation! 1 May 630. Back again. 815. What I know happened is that: both $♀ spent time in the hole. (same one as heir); while $1531 was inside, $1533 went in and tossed a runt egg; $1531 remained inside but did not toss anything; only the (runt) egg was laid today. I infer from this that $1531 laid her 1st egg today (a runt) while $1533 is still refractory. However, $1533 tossed the runt egg even while $1531 was in the hole - a first as far as I can remember. The only real alternative is that $1533 laid the runt egg and tossed it herself, after $1531 had ample opportunity to do so. This doesn't seem likely, especially since I know that $1533 was laying up until 2 days ago & a runt egg by her at this point would be extraordinary. So: $1531 laid (runt) → tossed by $1533. See back for my compilation & some mate-guarding data. I again saw a copulation! And some mounting. See back. 1400. Checked the nest hole with the eggs from 3 days ago - egg is still there, quite cold.
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30 April 610-825 630. $1533 b.h. 700. $1533 w/ $1613 705. $1533 b.h. 710. $1531 b.h. 720. $1531 w/ $1613 $1531 flew, $DNF {722. $1533 in hole (yet another hole) $1613 enters 735. Both still in hole 737. $1613 leaves 739. $ leaves hole 755. $1531 b.h. * → 803. Copulation! Top of tree, nice and obvious $1533 w/ $1613 805. $1531 w/ $1613 815. $1531 enters hole $1533 comes to hole several times 820. $1531 leaves; no egg 825. Leave 1 May 630-840 {632. $ out of hole; $ inside 636. $1533 leaves hole * 638. $1533 reverse mounted $1613. No attempt to reciprocate — 640. $1533 w/ $1613 — $1533 flew, $1613 DNF 644. $1531 enters hole. 657. Looking out (no egg in gill). 658. Crawled out, reenters 707. $1533 at hole, enters Both $ in hole * 707+. $ leaves w/ rent egg! (small relative to gill) 709. $1533 tossed egg - now eating it. $1531 still in hole. 715. $1531 still in hole. Egg tossed while paracel $ inside! 720. $1531 looking out. 721. $1533 at hole, enters. Leaves to find later no egg. 722. $1531 leaves, ? No egg tossed 728. $1533 leaves * checked hole * : it's empty 745. Back. — 750. $1531, $1533, w/ $1613, $1614 — 755 $1531, $1533 w/ $1614, $1780(H) $1780 flew off, noone followed) 800. $1533 flew off, not followed by $1613, $1614 800. $1531 w/ $1613, $1614 $1531 flew, $1614 D.N.F. * 808. Copulation?! Mounting at least $1613 w/ $1531 — 810. $1531, $1533 w/ $1613, $1614 $1613 followed by $1614, $1533 (Cresting $ followed) $1531 did not 815. $1531 w/ $1614 825. Quit. Cold. Wet.
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus NPHE HNHR 3 May 800. Momie watched this morning in hopes of seeing egg-tossing but no! It's all over - both ?? (did) (eggs marked #142 by Momie). See his notes for more details. Also, see back for entire sequence so far. 3 May 1645. 4 eggs, just as expected. New eggs marked #3 #4. 4 May 1400. 5 eggs! Damn! Should have watched this morning! The measurements are pretty inconclusive, too. However, assuming that ?1531 is into her clutch, it seems more likely it's her rather than ?1533, who already laid a set of eggs that got tossed and just managed to pump out 2 more. (I'll have to check what's happened in the past in these circumstances.) I better watch tomorrow! 5 May 620. Watching. 640. Dominance interaction! ?1614 came and pecked ?1613 ?1613 had been eating out of the way over an acorn on a horizontal limb. 643. ?1613 came to hole, ?1531 flew out! (Was there since 620) ?1613 entered. 645. Checked hole: still 5 eggs. Back at 652. 717. ?1533 entered hole. 742. Looks out & leaves. Checked hole: still 5 eggs! 748. Back. 808. ?1533 entered; ?1614 looked in, left. 811. ?1613 at hole, enters at 812 812. ?1533 leaves, followed by ? 820. ?1533 enters. 839. ?1613 at hole 840. ? enters 844. ? leaves 850. ? leaves. Checked hole: 6 eggs! ?1533 laid! 900. Leaving.
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Egg-laying/tossing 27 April (♀1533 laid, ♀1531 tossed) Inferred; egg was tossed. [illegible] Don't know hole. Don't know what happened before this. Note: I don't know positively that this egg was laid today. 28 April ♀1533 laid hole A; egg not tossed but ignored. Still there several days later 30 April No eggs laid. 1 May ♀1531 laid next egg, ♀1533 tossed, hole C 2 May Both ♀♀ laid, hole C (2 eggs) 3 May " " , hole C (4 eggs) 4 May 1♀ laid. ♀1531? (Eggs: 1 24.9 × 20.5 } 2 May Guess based on this being her 1st set of eggs. 5 May ♀1533 laid (egg #6) laid late (after 806) 2 25.3 × 19.9 } 2 May 3 25.1 × 20.2 } 3 May 4 25.6 × 20.2 } 3 May 5 25.1 × 20.2 } 4 May ♀1531? 6 25.5 × 20.1 } 5 May (♀1533) 7 25.7 × 20.0 } 6 May ♀1531? 6 May by 720: egg #7 ♀1531? ——→ laid early ♀1531 flew, 81614 D.N.F
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Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Nittle PHF HNHR 6 May 720. Checked hole: 7 eggs!!. Egg was long (suggesting ♀1533?). (But ♀1533 laid late yesterday (>800) suggesting she was done.) 730. Watching. 758. ♀1533. ♂1613 looking, but left. ♀1533 enters. 839. ♂1613 at hole, leaves. 844. ♂1613 at hole. ♀ looks out, leaves. ♂ enters. 845. Checked hole: still 7 eggs. Well, I think ♀1531 laid today, given that ♀1533 seems to have laid her last egg yesterday and is now acting very broody. (Given that ♀1531 laid earlyish, she could lay again tomorrow, so I should be ready to look once again! 7 May Monré watched and reported that none laid today, although ♀1531 acted as if she was thinking about it. In any case, this would appear to be all here. 11 May 1015. Still The 7 eggs. Egg #6 ♂ is dented a bit at the air-hole end, but all eggs appear to be developing. 15 May 1845. No hatching yet. 16 May 745. Eggs 1-5 hatched. Eggs 6&7 look fertile and close. All I did was mark the 5 babies with some enamel so I will (hopefully) be able to distinguish them later on today from the late-hatching babies. 1620. Checked nest again: all but egg #6 hatched. See back for weights. 18 May 1400. Checked the nest: all 7 babies OK, although I probably on the way out (the newly hatched baby from egg #6). Remark ed. Also put in a parasite board. 19 May 1945. Watched broosting. ♂1613 came, followed a couple minutes later ♀ 1614. After this 2nd bird entered
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Egg 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 16 May. 745 Hatchob 1620 Hatched Don't know who from whom → for 1-5 GB GH BB BH OB 6.3 6.2 6.8 6.6 5.3 GL Hatched 4.6 4.1 18 May 1400 11.5 11.8 11.8 11.1 10.4 4.6 7.4 OL (no band) 21 May 915 19.9 19.5 20.8 19.8 16.5 (came) 12.3 29 May 1600 60.6 67.8 67.0 68.6 60.9 48.0
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1991 Walter D Goenig Melanerpes formicivorus 7 MPHE HNHR (19 May) a bird looked out and left, and that was it. So I can guess that 81614 replaced 81613 and that 81614 spent the night in the nest, but it's only a guess, unfortunately. 81614 might have just visited briefly and left. 20 May 81613 in nest 1945. Tonight it was definitely 81613 alone in the nest; 81614 didn't come by at all. 21 May 915. Checked nest: 6 babies; retrieved the parasite board. 29 May 1600. Checked the nest. Still 6 babies! Morné watched tonight and reports that 81613 roosted alone in the nest. 30 May Morné got 81613 roosting in the nest once again. 2 June 1530. Plenty of babies and stores here. Set up an ambusher for Mark. 15 July 8 December 1530. Still plenty of stores here. w/ Connie Ambushed this morning at the old nest hole in the tree up from this year's nest hole in order to get plasma for Stanback. Got 7 birds - all 4 breeders plus 3 babies. It took awhile to get them all out (The hole is deep) and I did not do them in the order I pulled them, but otherwise the extensive bleeding Stanback had requested went fine. Only glitches: 3 of the "c" tubes got mixed up in the process of being transferred back to the lab; these were saved as "1 of 3 birds" samples. Also, I completely spaced out taking any other data on the birds, like weight. Oh well. I did get 5 samples from each spaced at "0", 10, 20, 40 & 70 minutes. The birds were kept in separate bags and all processed in the same order each time.
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus MPHF HNHR 19 January *Group update* All last seen 7-8 June 1991, gone by 24 Oct. (Connie): 1779,1780,(1961,1964,1965→NSAB)→D.A. 15 Aug ± 2 mo. 4 April 1430. Bird in a hole here—the season’s first nest?? 10 April 1630. Set out a feeder in the (uphill!) nest tree here; this is a supplemented group. 16 April 1700. Bird in last year’s nest hole: empty. Egg-tossing maybe? Have set an ambush for Mark & will watch tonight. 22 April 625. Watching from blind, Video set at ‘90 nest hole. No eggs here yet but there was lots of activity in this hole yesterday and they are clearly close, if not already egg-tossing. 800. No activity here except for when a Starling came and briefly checked out the hole and was summarily chased off by at least 1 Woodpecker. Otherwise dead, here and, as far as I could tell, at the other likely holes as well. Not yet, I guess! 23 April 615. Set up and watching again; VCR running. Can see holes better today, in case there’s activity somewhere else. 720. Birds up in the tree just behind me, but no sign of a hole back there. 800. One again, none came to any of the holes. Egg-laying must still be a couple days away, I should think. 24 April 620. Bird in high hole in last year’s nest tree. Set up VCR on the hole from ground, but had to go back. 710. Back. None in any holes. Watching. Checked the tape: While I was gone 1 bird came and looked into the hole (at
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1992 Waltraud Koenig Melanurpes formicivorus MPHF HNHR (24 April) about 705) but did not enter the hole. There were no other visits. 742. Both ♀my/or #1533 and ♀m/w#1531 together in the farther next tree. 800. Nothing yet! Leaving. 25 April 800. Valerie watched this morning → 1 egg tossed from last year's hole! Details, from her transcription, are fuzzy - both ♀♀ were in the hole, both when the egg apparently was laid & when it was tossed. Egg was probably a runt. Valerie guessed) 26 April 620. All cameras up; Connie & I watching! 640. ♀1531 in hole, not guarded by anyone → marked #1! 715. ♀1531 leaves. Check nest - runt egg! ♀1531 laid her 1st egg today! This undoubtedly means that ♀1533 laid yesterday & ♀1531 tossed! Today - either could toss! 723. Back in blinds. 830. Leaving; Connie will stay for a 67. No one else came to any holes! Things aren't over yet! 27 April 615. Set up with cameras. Runt is still in the hole. 650. ♀1531 (m/w) in hole. 723 ♀1531 leaves after a 2nd bird landed briefly at the hole. No one going to other holes (that I can see, at least) → and appeared to have been chased off by ♀1531! 737. As we suspected, a new (normal) egg, laid by ♀1531 and numbered #2. 815. Except for ♀1531 laying, there's really no interest in this hole. With all the activity (in contrast to next 2 days) I vote for ♀1533 having laid! (27 Apr) Actually, either ♀ could have tossed!
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1992 Waltu D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus MPHF HUNTER (27 April) 840. ! Almost sure I had a brief look at a bird in the other nest tree with a large (normal) egg in its bill! Ang! Bird disappeared immediately. Would appear as though #1533 is laying, but somewhere else! Note, though, that it's not one of the 2 regular holes over in that tree either. Where are they laying? Or did I imagine this? No, I think not... 850. [illegible] #1613 on the limb; flew off. 930. Well, shit. What's going on here? Looks like both are laying; unfortunately, where #1533 is doing it is a mystery. Leaving for now. 940. Checked the hole on the way out - eggs are both still there. 1900. Watched roosting - found a new hole (upward- facing knothole) in the upper nest tree. Birds roosted there and in the high hole above the nest. 28 April 530. Opened the knothole. 615. I'm watching the knothole, Jim & the VCR are at the other hole. 800. Well! Here's the poop: no action at the knothole. However, 2 eggs were laid in the other hole - 1 by #1531 at 700-745 (ID by behavior of the bird at the hole, not by bands), and the other (#1533, presumably) laid late, at 749-800. I presume this is her "last" egg (i.e., that #1533 will skip tomorrow). Eggs were marked 1-4. Note that both #s came by themselves and had noone else visit or even check the hole while they were inside. Hence! [illegible]
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1992 Walter P Koering Melanerpes formicivorus MPHF HNHR (28 April) this would appear to be a clear case of restraint on the part of ♀1533 ending egg-tossing. See back for my best guess as to the sequence of events here. 29 April 620. Watching. Nest still with 4 eggs (3N, 1R). ♀1533 enters hole. 717. ♀1533 enters; ♀ now looking out (♀1531?) 714. 1 bird left. ♀1531 Yes 750. 2nd ♀ (1533?) looking out, leaves. 752. Going to check hole. Only 1 new egg (#5)! Can't be sure, but, given ♀1533's late laying yesterday, my guess is that it's ♀1533's. (Egg also did not seem that warm; i.e., as if it had just emerged from ♀1533). 30 April 618. Watching. 653. ♀ leaves! Bummer - no ID on this bird! Well, surely it was ♀1533, who is now preening atop the other tree as if she'd been confined for some time (i.e., in the hole). 700. 6 eggs (5N, 1R). Other evidence this egg was ♀1533's: bird in hole early, never looked out until she left. Very unlike ♀1531's behaviour any of the past several days. 800. No one else came to hole. Either ♀1533's going to lay very late or she's taking the day off. Leaving. 1800. And the answer is: Late! Now 7 eggs. See back for measurements. 1 May 620. Watching. No one looking out of hole, but someone could be inside. 645. ♀1533 looks out & leaves (ID's on branch preening after her exit).
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus MPHF HNHE (1 May) 655. Still 7 eggs! #1533 did not lay! Watching again. 710. #1533 enters. 805. #1533 leaves. Checking hole. 810. Still 7 eggs! Looks (like they may be finished!) Leaving. 1900. Still 7 eggs. Could be the end. One more day to be sure. 2 May 620. Watching. 655. ♂ looking out of hole... 730. Nothing happening (?) Going to check hole. 735. No ♂ in hole looking out; #1533 I believe. 741. Yes - #1533 leaves; ♂ replaces her. Now going to check. 750. Still 7 eggs; checked. 9 May 1000. 6 eggs remaining - the runt (#1) is gone. All others look opaque and ready to hatch. Set up an ambush. 1720. Still 6 eggs. Not hatched yet. 10 May Stamback checked nest for me today: eggs 2-4 had hatched by 800! They were indistinguishable, but marked. Only egg #5 hatched by PM. 11 May 700. Egg #6 had hatched! Egg 7 pipping. See back. 12 May 1430. All 6 babies OK! See back. 14 May 1500. All 6 still going strong! 19 May 1935. ♂1613 [♂ or ?] sparated roosted by himself in the nest tonight. 25 May 1945. ♂1613 roosted in the nest once again tonight. 2 June 1400. Banded and bled the 6 babies here (all survived; note that this is a supplemented group, however). One Lewis' Waker here too. 1 July 1450. Plenty of stores here (mostly, but not entirely, stored dog food!)
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11 May 700 Eggs Babies (Hawked Blue) {2} {3} {4} 5 LWin 6 Tail, Lleg 7 Not hatched yet. 12 May 14.30 (Black) (Red) ↓ ↓ Rleg Rleg RWin RWin Lleg Lleg LWing Lleg Rleg 14 May 1500 Now {2} BRL DBlue 22.6g {3} BRW Red 22.7g {4} BLL LG 21.5g 5 RLW Yellow 18.4g 6 RLL White 13.6g 7 RRL Or 15.9g
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1991 Waldorf Koening Melanerpes formicivorus Lower PHF HNHR 27 January *Group Update* j 1880, 1881. NSAB! 7 April ♀ 1863 seen. See MPH F notes. 1030.♂ Bile/0.1-Bile #1862 here in The granary. 17 April 930. Despite having seen ♀ 1863 10 days ago, today I saw an unbandit ♀ hanging out here; also, there's been a fair amount of activity (chasing, etc.) here. It's possible, I suppose, that there is a new ♀ here. 22 April 1030.♂ Bile/IR-Bile #1862 seen in granary. 1210.♀ or/ #1863 in granary; I think the pair is intact here after all. 27 April 830. Lots of activity and some chasing going on here. 16 May 800. Birds are still getting acorns from their granary here. 815.♀ or/1.0c-? #1863 in granary. 20 May 1915. Walking over randomly to the Valley Oaks in the forest that they fly to here, I heard young babies! It's the nest! See map on back. 21 May 900. Opened hole, added a parasite board, and weighed the 4 kits: ① Or Baskett ② Older Maure ③ 4.2 ④ 3.4 24 May 930 ① 24.8 ② 23.7 others gone. Parasite boards switched. 27 May 1600 ① 43.9 g ③ 4 42.9 g. Parasite board #2 removed. 7 June 1100. Set up to get the ♀ for DLW. 1215. Feeding here is pretty darn slow (8 fed once so far as best I could tell). 1235. ♀ finally fed but already did not go all the way into the hole! Giving up here. 14 June 830. Banded & bled the 2 babies here.
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1991 1992 Waltford Koening 2 Melanerpes formicivorus LPHF HNHE (14 June) Checking the granary, it's mostly empty but I actually did see what appeared to be 2 intact stored acorns. Not sure what to make of that. 15 July 1530. Out of stores here. 1992 22 April 730. ♀ M/Light-? #1863 flycatching in the granary. 245. The ♂ here is drumming and occasionally quacking - is he new? 800. ♂ M/DB-Yci(N) #1862. Would appear not; he's just on edge, I guess... 29 April 810. Bird in last year's nest hole. Bingo! 3 eggs, fresh but all somewhat dirty - apparently none laid today. 1 May 830. Now 4 eggs in the hole! They weren't done after all. 9 May 1020. 2 eggs, opaque, plus 2 hatchlings in the hole. Set up an ambush. 1730. Still 2 eggs, 26 days: Blue, left: 6.0 g Blue, Right: 5.4 g 25 May 1100. Set up to try for the ♀. 1230. No luck. Giving up, for now at least. 26 May 805. Trying again. 1015. Got her finally! 1030. While waiting, I weighed the kits: 70.8 (46); 78.7 (47), Pretty healthy! 28 May 915. Back to try for the receptance. 1130. ♂ 1862 feeding, but no ♀ as yet. 1300. That's it. I give up. No ♀.
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Westgate 1470 HNHR 7 January 1245. Counted stores: [illegible]. Tree is quite replete; I'd put capacity at about 1750. 4 March *Group Update* Amy reports that 991571 and 1688 continue to hang out here and at Gate. In the meantime, 91886 and 91742 last seen 8 Dec, gone by 9 Jan. → D.A. 24 Dec. ± 2 wks. 29 April 1030. Checked the old nest holes (inc. last year's, where they've been the last couple days): empty. Could be egg-tossing, of course. 1 May Morne reports a ♀ who could only be 91415 from Cazebo here (looking into holes, mounting, etc.) along with at least 1 of the ♂♂ that belongs here. What is going on? 3 May 620. Watchling. Should be close to laying here. 640. ♀ BIK/ya #1585. Light here stinks. also? 700. (♀) M/R-b ?? Possibly a ♀NOBA here? 707. ♂♂ 9M/R-B #1415. Birds are going, at least, to all 3 known good holes. [illegible] 715. ♂(?) LB/M ?? Legs probably mixed up. 736. 91415 (?) went into high hole and took out a bill full of wood chips. 740. 2 more trips. Also - I think there is a ♀NOBA here... Light is still bad here, however. 750. ♂ (♀) M #1582. There is also a 3rd ♀ here: 9DB/- ?? → 91473?? (not confirmed) 815. ♀ BIK/light- working on the new hole. 830. I can't be sure, since the light is only now improving and only 91415 is here dependably, but I think that 2-3 of the Cazebo ♀♀
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1991 Walter Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Westgate (3 May) (namely ♀1415, ♀1473, and the ♀NOBA) have moved here. Meanwhile, I can only presume that ♂1571 & ♂1688 have switched to Gate. (My guess is that both the helper ♀♀ here are gone as well.) As for nesting, they're interested but not there yet. Not clear which hole they'll use either. 6 May 1500. Climbed and opened the road hole; not an easy job. It is empty, however, as expected, given that they're still in holes all over this tree. 8 May 705. Watching. 710.♂ 8-wm #1582. ♂♀ R/M #1473, presumably. ♂♀ R/Y-D? #1415 725. 4 birds together. No sign of the former helpers. 750. Bird (♀) in road hole. ♂Mv/Yellow #1585 there also. 815. No real sign of the ♀NOBA today. Birds definitely have acorns remaining here, by the way. 820. ♂ in hole (road) again; ♂1585 at hole. 824. ♂ in hole throwing out woodchips. I think this will be the hole and that they're close, but not today. 830. Raining! Going home. I don't think we've missed this one yet. *Group Update* ♀1571 & 1688, who have been toying with the idea much of the winter, have finally committed themselves to Gate as of early this month at least; say Moved → 15 April ± 2 wks. Note that they left for an inferior group, were clearly not kicked out, and the only rationale for leaving is to avoid apparent incest with ♂1582 & 1585. They've been replaced by ♀♀1415 & 1473 → Moved here 1 May.
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1991 Walter D Koening Melanerpes formicivorus Westgate HNHR (8 May) Meanwhile, the 2 helper ♀♀ would almost certainly appear to have gone, as a result of the ♀ turnover if not earlier: ♀1741 last seen 9 Jan gone by 12 March → DA 10 Fe6 ± 1 month ♀1889 " " 12 March gone by 6 April → DA 25 Mar ± 2 wks 12 May 640. Watching. (1) 6 da/yel #1585. 710. Going to road hole, though not enough to suggest eggs or laying yet. (3) ♂ LB-w/m #1582. (3) ♀ Red/LE-DA ??? Not quite #1415... OK. It is R-16/DA #1415. 730.♀ R/M #1473 here. Birds also still paying some attention to both holes in the vertical limb. 745. Leaving. Still looking promising but not there yet. 13 May 700. Still farting around in all 3 holes, at least. 800. Some mate-guarding (such as it is) data on back. 14 May 640-815. Some more (lack of) mate-guarding. Some Interest in all 3 holes continues. Wood chips still being removed from the road hole; I think they're close but not there yet. *Group Update* ♀91415, 1473 moved here ~15 April ± 2 wks (from Cazebo) These birds moved in after the former breeder ♀♀ here (who are presumably the mothers of the breeder 88) abdicated (invest avoidance!) and shifted to Gate (note that they'd been playing with This all winter). Actually, only ♀1571 definitely went through with this; ♀1688 has disappeared and could very well have gone elsewhere. Both events will sort of arbitrarily be placed on 1 April.
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1991 Walter D Koenig 4 Melanerpes formicivorus Westgate HNHR (14 May) ?1473. Last seen 9 Jan, gone by 12 March → D.A. 10 Feb ± 1 month. ?1889. Last seen 12 March, gone by 7 April → D.A. 25 March ± 2 wks. 15 May Morne watched this morning - ?1473 was in the road hole for 20 min just at the right time? could have been it! But he watched until ~930 with no other activity at the hole. We came back at 1030 and checked the hole: empty. Hence, either not yet or it got tossed between 930-1030; I'll guess the former. Should be soon, though! 16 May Morne reports that ?1473 laid, ?1415 tossed! Egg looked normal (best he could tell). No real indication that ?1415 laid afterwards. It's on! Note that ?1473 could have laid a runt egg yesterday that we missed. 17 May Morne watched again this morning in what turned out to be a very interesting twist: ?1415 laid a runt egg which ?1473 tossed, after which ?1473 laid a normal egg that ?1415 tossed! Hence, possibly a first: reciprocal egg-tossing from the same hole! Pretty neat. Tomorrow it's my turn. Note that we have not checked the nest itself since 15 May (it's a very scary hole) but the observational evidence appears to be good. See Morne's notes for more detail. 18 May 930.Watched this (crummy) morning with Danny, but no egg- tossing: ?1415 laid and then ?1473 laid, after having the opportunity to toss ?1415's egg but not doing so. See [illegible] for compilation. Nest was checked at 915 and the 2 (normal) eggs marked.
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Egg-tossing Saga at Westgate 15 May (♀1473 possibly laid; if so, egg tossed.) Evidence suggests no laying that day. 16 May ♀1473 laid, ♀1415 tossed. Egg normal 17 May ♀1415 laid next → ♀1473 tossed ♀1473 laid normal egg → ♀1415 tossed } same hole! 18 May ♀1415 laid; not tossed by ♀1473 (birds not in the hole simultaneously) ♀1473 laid. 2 eggs (normal); #1 & #2. 19 May No eggs! Both of yesterday's gone! ♀1415 (most probably) laid normal egg #1: 25.0 × 19.6 20 May ♀1415 laid 2nd egg: 25.7 × 19.6. 830. 2 eggs in hole. 21 May Eggs #1 & #2 gone! 2 new eggs in their place laid by ♀1415 & ♀1473 ① 25.2 × 19.3 ② 24.2 × 19.1 22 May 4 eggs: ③ 25.3 × 19.4 ④ 25.2 × 19.2 23 May Still (same) 4 eggs. 24 May 6 eggs: ⑤ 25.1 × 18.9 ⑥ 24.9 × 19.2 25 May Still 6 eggs (not checked)
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Westgate HNHR (18 May) Note that the weather and visibility were downright pathetic this morning making observations very difficult. However, it's clear that the 88 are more or less following 91415, not 91473, around. Both 99 could have laid together (as far as we could tell, 91473 did go in the hole for 6 min. while 91415 was laying [along with the 2 88 - I have a hard time believing they could both fit in to lay]), but I to find this unlikely. It's far more probable that 91415 laid between 619-657 and 91473 between 712-805. Assuming this is true, 91473 restrained herself and did not toss 91415's egg even though she had an excellent opportunity to do so, not only when she went in to lay at 712 but even better, during a prior visit on the heels of 91415's laying at 657+. So: Restraint! Note also that Morné saw a clear dominance interaction between these 99 on 15 May (see his notes) with 91415 definitely dominant over 91473. Is it significant that 91415 is also the 9 being guarded (more or less) by the 88? 19 May • 815. Watched from 615 until now (see compilation); 91415 was in for a significant length of time right around 700 and (from observation) certainly laid. 91473 went in the hole several times subsequently but not for an extended period; I was less sure about her. So, checking the hole, much to my surprise, I discover 1 new fresh egg! The eggs from yesterday have been tossed! But why not today's egg? I quite doubt I missed anything this morning, and Roger watched yesterday in the afternoon. Heavens! What's going on here?
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Compilation: 18 May 615. Watching 618. 81582 at hole briefly. 91415 inside? 619. Bird (?) entered (91415 probably) 620. 81582, 81585 entered. 623. 91473 at hole, left w/o entering 632. Bird at hole. 636. 91473 enters hole 642. 2 birds leaving. I reentered. [Max reentered] 3 birds in hole [91473 prob. left at this point] 643. 81582 at hole; reenters. 81585 in hole also Apparently 91473 left? (earlier) 649. 81585 at hole 650. 81585 reenters 652. 91473 several feet away from hole. 654. 91473 dipped in at hole, left. 657. All birds (3) left hole 657+. 91473 enters right after. ← (91473 shows) 700. 8 at hole. Enters. 8 leaves, no egg! 91473 in hole. 712. 91473 back at hole, enters 722. 91415 enters. 81585 at hole. 723. 19 left. (1415), followed by 81585 88 not following 91473; 755. 91415 at hole; flew off. 756. 8 at hole. 91415 at hole. 805. 91473 looks out, leaves 811. 91415 enters, followed by 812. 81585 at hole, enters. 813 All leave 817. Going to check hole. 2 eggs!
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1991 Waltford Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Westgate HNHR (19 May) As I pondered these mysteries, Danny came along to do a watch so I left him here, partly on the assumption that the egg should get tossed. (Presumably by 91473, but why hasn't she done it already?) 1215. Went down to check. Danny reports lots of visits by both 99; 91473 was in for ~20 min after I left this morning so I checked the hole again to make sure she hadn't laid late: still the #1 egg only. Hence, someone (presumably 91473) is showing laudable restraint here, leaving until tomorrow morning! 20 May Only 1 egg laid today, again (apparently) by 91415. Both eggs measured. No indication that 91473 wants to toss! Transcription: 613. Start! Noona around. 619. Bird tipped into hole. 8. 620. Left. 625. - 631. 91415 enters 632. 81585 at hole enters 637. 81585 leaves 638. 8 leaves? No. Both 88 at hole 8. 647. 81585 enters. 91473 at hole. 654. 91473 to hole. Leaves 655. 81582 at hole. Leaves 657. 8 looking out. 700. 8 leaves 705. 81582 enters (91415 lays 2nd egg.) 708. 8 leaves 708. 91473 enters 712. Looks out. 716. 8 leaves 757. 91473 enters! 758. Leaves! 714. 803. 91473 enters (91415) 805. 81582 at hole. 806. 8 leaves 810. Check hole. 2 eggs. Both same width; Both 91415. 21 May 830. This continues to be an interesting group! Watched this morning; 91415 gave every indication of dominating the proceedings and laying another egg; I wasn't so sure about 91473 but she was in for a bit late in the morning and so could also have laid. The result? 2 new eggs - both of 91415's older ones finally tossed! I guess 91473 finally woke up after all.
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19 May - Mate-guarding 620. Watching P - 625. 91415 w/ 81582, 81585 / 91415 flew, 81585 followed, 81582 DNF 91473 by herself (by implication) [632. 9 entered hole (BANNS?) [633. 81585 at hole. 9 left [634. 91473 enters [635. 9 leaves [648. 91415 enters P -> 645) 91415 w/ 81582, 81585 91473 by herself somewhere 651. 81585 enters hole P - 655. All 4 birds w/ 15m 91415 81585 in hole 91473 81582 on branch [658 81582 enters hole P - 700 91473 b.h. 91415 w/ 288 in hole 702 91473 at hole, leaves P - 705. 91473 b.h. 91415 w/ 288 in hole 706. 91473 to hole, leaves 710. 81585, 81582 leave, followed by 9 Intruder here! P - 715.(91415 enters, w/ {81585 at hole 81582 nearby 91473 b.h. 81582 flew away from 91415 716 81585 enters 717. 9 leaves, followed by 9 [717. 91473 enters [723. 9 leaves! [727. 9 leaves P - 729. 91473 enters P - 730. 91473 b.h. P - 735. All 4 together [739. 91473 enters hole [741. Leaves. 744. 91473 (?) enters 745. 81585 at hole [752. 91415 enters [753. 9 leaves 81585 8 enters [800. 91473 enters [802. Leaves Birds gove in for short periods only. Going in to check hole. 1 egg! 91415 lays 91415 in between 648-710 likely laying her egg. 91473 did not toss it!
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Westgate HNHR (21 May) For transcription of today's watch, see back. Note that, even though 91473 presumably tossed the earlier 2 eggs, she certainly could have tossed the egg laid by 91415 today and didn't. More restraint! 22 May 830. Watched again this morning; nothing notable except that ① both 99 were inside the hole and ② 88 were not following 91415 around the way they had been up to a day or two ago. I climbed at 810 and there were, as expected, 4 eggs, including the 2 from yesterday. See compilation on back. 23 May Watched and then climbed at 815: still 4 eggs - nobody laid today (!) 24 May 850. In contrast, there are 2 new eggs today - up to 6! 25 May 800. Watched for a while, but both 99 were going in (in fact, all 4 were trading off quite regularly), never for an extended period, suggesting anything or nothing, as the case may be. Either, one, or neither could have laid another egg. 900. And the answer is: neither. Still 6 eggs. Could they finally be done? 26 May 1600. Yes: didn't watch this morning but still 6 eggs. 5 June 1550. Checked nest: eggshells all over (I'm fairly confident that all 6 eggs hatched) but only 2 babies! Serious brood reduction here. Babies are at least 2 days old, I'd guess. Parasite board put in just in case. 8 June Morné watched tonight and got 91582 roosting in the nest. 11 June Morné watched tonight and apparently nobody roosted! Hope the nest didn't fail!!
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21 May ♀1415 in hole lays eggs? 620. Watching. 630. ♀1415 looking out, stays (♀1473 elsewhere in tree) 632. ♂1585 enters 641. ♂1582 at hole, leaves ♂1585 leaves 645. ♀1415 leaves 654. bird enters. Who? ♀1415 656. ♀1415 enters 656. ♂ leaves 702. ♀1415 leaves ♀1415 704. ♀1415 enters 722. ♂ leaves 722 ♂1585 enters 734. ♂ leaves ♀1473 735. ♀1473 enters Leaves ~15s later] Restraint again! Could have tossed, presumably. ♀1415 741. ♀1415 enters 747. 752. ♀1473 enters 802. ♀1415 at hole 802 ♀1473 leaves 803. ♀1415 enters 804. ♀1415 leaves. * Going to check hole * [2 new eggs!] 22 May 630. Watching 636. ♀1473 enters, bird leaves right? 645. ♀1415 enters, ♀1473 leaves ♀1415 658. ♀1415 leaves ♀1415 700. ♀1415 enters. ♂ not paying atten 705. Leaves, ♀1473 enters ♀1473 712. Leaves? No 722. Leaves 733. ♀1415 comes, leaves. 738. ♀1415 744. ♀1415 enters 753. Leaves 753. ♂1582 at hole, enters 756. Leaves ♀1473 757. ♀1473 in 808. Leaves 4 eggs Not obvious when they were laid! 25 May ♀1415 640. Watching 645. ♀1415 leaves ♂ [649 ♂1582 enters ♀1473 702. ♀1473 e ← ♀1473 could have laid 707. ♂ ♂ [720. ♂ ♀1415 722. ♀1415 e 732. ♂ ♂ [732 ♂1582 e 240?♂ ♀1473 741. ♀1473 e ♂ [744. ♂ ♂ [744. ♂1585 e ♀1415 752. ♀1415 e
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1991 1992 Walter D Koenig 8 Melanerpes formicivorus Westgate HNHR 12 June 2000. Watched roosting here tonight and was quite confident that nobody roosted in the nest. I could hear the babies, though, so they exist. Everyone seemed to roost on the far side of the tree (but I doubt I scared them off- noone even came to the hole). 13 June 1720. After Danny reported no activity at the nest here I climbed up, finding the 2 babies dead in the nest. They were seething with ants, and had started to be eaten by them, but no doubt they died of exposure after everyone ignored them last night (and previously). Why would they do this? Beats me. I took tissue from them (They were not that old) as #1986 #1987. 22 June 900. For no particular reason other than it seemed to be about time I checked the 2 old nest holes in the dead vertical limb; both were empty. 26 June 945. Bird in the lower vertical hole. 1030. Checked hole: empty. But they seem to have been working on it, since it's a lot deeper than it was a few days ago. 15 July 1545. There are still some stored acorns here. 22 July 1000. Checked the vertical holes: empty. Still stores here. 1992 1 January 1145. Counted stores: 1100. Not bad. Also 25 in the Ceate tree, which I think has been taken over by these Grits. 4 April 1320. The granary is still pretty well full here - a 1000 acorns can't be too far off!
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1992 Walter D Koening Melanerpes formicivorus Westgate HNHR 23 April 938. Checked the low vertical hole in the sycamore here, where I'd seen activity this morning, only to find 6 babies! They were not even hatchlings - I'd guess they're 5-6 days old. Only 1 was markedly smaller than the others. There were no eggs in the hole. 1 July 1440. There are some, but not a lot of acorns remaining here. 16 September 1700. Opened a new hole high in the sycamore after having seen a bird in it twice today, but the hole is empty. I also fixed the higher hole in the snag, whose cutout (beside the limb) had fallen inside the hole. (This is not where they've nested recently.)
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1991 Waltin D Koenig Melanerpus formicivorus Gate HNHR 7 January 1230. Counted stores: 375. This tree is quite full; I'd put capacity at well under 1000 and probably on the order of 850. 27 January *Group Update* ♀1892. NSAB. ♀1579. Last seen 5 Oct (Nancy/Mark), gone by 26 Oct. → D.A. 15 Oct ± 2 wks. ♀1891. Last seen 26 Oct (Amy), gone by 9 Nov. → D.A. 3 Nov. ± 1 wks. Hanging out here these days are the 2 Greeder ♂♂ along with ♀1571 & ♀1688 from Westgate. What's up? Will one or both stay? Maybe breed in both groups? 840. There are definitely birds here (3 at least). 845. ♂♂/♀♀-? #1513. 910. Finally: @♀R/LB#1571; ♂ Light-/Light- #1512. Chasing intruder. Well, I'm convinced that ♀1571 (and caught ♀1688 also) have abfuscated Westgate and moved here, explaining why The Gazebos ♀♀ are now at Westgate. 8 May *Group Update* ♀♀1571 & 1688 moved here ~15 April ± 2 wks (note that they've been toying with this idea much of the winter). 1500. After Monné reported birds spending lots of time in the hole this morning I checked the hole: 5 fresh eggs! However: I broke 2 eggs getting in, so I only left 3. After consultation (we'd like to get egg-tossing here), we decided that Stanback would take the eggs tomorrow after laying. Monné will then start watching on Friday.
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1991 1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Gate. GNHR 12 May It turns out that, as best we can tell, there's only 1 ♀ here! Only ♀ (57). So Mark did not remove the remaining 3 eggs. (If only I could find some Lewis' Woodpecker eggs to replace them with....) 23 May 900. Checked the hole, expecting young babies, to find 3 large (>30g) kids (smallest was <30g, but other 2 were not); my guess is that they're ~7 do at least, hence hatching must have been back on ~16 May. 26 May 1030. Still 3 babies and again no parasite board. I also failed to bring up The 100g pesola so I didn't even weigh them. They largest has eyes just opening, though, so they are about 10d old. 27 May 1950. ♂1513 roosted in the nest by himself tonight. 29 May 2000. All 3 girls fed during the twilight moments; once again ♂1513 roosted by himself in the nest. 3 June 2000. Both ♂1512 & ♂1513 roosted in the nest tonight. 4 June Stanback watched tonight and got ♂1513 roosting in the nest. 15 July 1545. Still some stored acorns here. 1992 1 January 1145. Only 25 acorns stored here (presumably Westgate's). According to Connie, have moved to Horsetail! where they are storing and everything! *Group Update* ♂1513. Last seen 9 June, gone by 28 Oct ≈ 18 Aug ± 2 Mo. 8 March ♀1950. Last seen 28 Oct at Hors., gone by 14 Nov → D.A 7 Nov ± 1 wk ♀1947 " " 14 Nov at Hors, gone by 23 Jan→D.A. 18 Dec ± 1 mo.
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melampes formicivorus Gate H.N.H.R April 1330. As of some time ago, These birds have left Horsetail and returned here (see Connie's notes) Where there are in fact still one patch of perhaps 100 acorns in one limb in the granary! July 1430. Strangely enough, There seem to still be a very few acorns left in one of the sycamore limbs here.
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1991 1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Pipeline HNHR 7 January 1130. Counted stores: 925. Tree doesn't seem all that full; I'd put capacity at at least 1500. But they're in reasonable shape here for sure. 4 March *Group Update* ♀1151. Last seen 17 Oct, gone by 29 Nov. → DA 8 Nov. ± 3 wks. 15 July 1620. Out of stores here. (But a supplemented group, apparently.) 1992 January 1045. No stores at all here! Group abandoned fall '91! 4 April 1315. Still no stores here.
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1991 1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Wolfpack HAIHE 7 January 1200. Counted stores: Big VO by Creek: 250 Sycamore : 125 Big VO by Road: 0 Still sort of a mystery how they manage here, but capacity is growing; I'd put it up around 600 or so at this point. 27 January *Group update* j1822. NSAB. 1992 1 January 1030. I couldn't find any stored acorns in the few storage areas I know about here, including a large block of green styrofoam from Morné. I did, however, flush a bird from the sycamore nest tree, so there are, apparently, birds here. 19 January *Group abandoned fall '91!*
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1991 1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Warp 5 HNHR 7 January 1200. Granaries are empty up here; no sign of a group. 15 May 1700. Walked by and checked holes: no sign of life here. 1992 1 January 1045. No stores here or other obvious sign of life. 16 September Main nest tree (The big black oak) has fallen!
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1991 Waltr D Koenig 1992 Melanerpes formicivorus Road! 7 January 1200. Counted stores: Valley Oak: 350 Sycamore: 920 Elsewhere: 0 } 1270. Not bad, but neither area is close to being full. Capacity is surely in the 3000+ range. 25 March Watched roosting here tonight with Roger. One bird was in the high Sycamore hole early as usual. Two others came by and roosted in entirely different places. Hence, there would definitely appear to be 3 birds here, not the 2 on the field list. Too bad they're all roosting independently! 19 April 1715. Checked the hole from last year, which Mark saw a bird in this morning - empty. 28 April 1330. Mark checked the hole: 4 eggs! 28 May 1800. Banded and bled the 4 babies here and added 2 transplanted Lewis' babies to boot for a final "brood" of 6. 15 July 1620. Out of stores here. 1992 1 January 1000. Counted stores: Valley Oak: 75 Sycamore: 475 } 550 Not very much for these guys. 4 April 1315. Perhaps there are a few lurking here, but for all practical purposes these guys are out of stores here.
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1991 1992 WaltwD Koenig Melanerpes famicivorus Road Warrior HNHR 7 January 1215. The granary here- which is not insubstantial - lies empty this winter. Amy reports that There were a few stored acorns here in November, and actually saw these birds in the area on 11 October. But They would definitely seem to be gone now → Abandoned 1 Dec. ± 1 month. 21 April See Finch notes re this group. 1992 1 January 1000. Granary is empty.
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Finch HNNHR 7 January 1045. The granaries here are heavily full but birds have definitely been busy: Valley Oak: 430 ? !!40. Sycamore: 710 ? !!40. They are not really anywhere near capacity, which is probably on the order of 3000 or so. 30 March 2030. Finally ambushed the high sycamore hole (which I opened for the census occasion, only to get #1627 only. Doch schade! However, Roger reports 4 birds here (I'd seen 3 previously) very possibly divided into 2 groups. Apparently #1627's with a banded ♂ (identity unknown as yet); they tend to hang out on the Arnold (S) side of the road. The 2nd pair is unbanded and tend to be on the N (PO Hill) side. This area obviously needs more work! 4 April Based on Danny's watch here, the banded ♂ with #1627 would appear to be ♂1641 [♂ Maure-Red/Maure]. This is one of the former Road Warrior birds (originally from OK Corral). Based on precedent, the unbanded pair across the road will be Bongo. 17 April 1000. ♂ Wh-Red/Maure #1641 in the sycamore. 18 April Monné found #1627 dead here today. It's possible she was hit by a car, but she was several meters off the road so it seems unlikely. *Group update* ♂ 534 (♂NOBA) disappeared ~21 Feb ±1 month (last seen 14 Jan, gone by 30 March); replaced by ♂1641. 19 April 1045. ♂ Wh-Red#1641 here; Stanback reports a new ♂ (banded) in the area? (Apparently #1823 from Wolfpack).
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1991 Walter D Koening Melanerpes formicivorus Finch HNHR 21 April *Group Update* Looking at Amy's notes, things have obviously been confusing in this area all winter. It seems clear from Amy's records that the 2 birds from Road Warrior (81641 and 91552) were in the area all winter. They most likely even stored some acorns at Road Warrior, even though they spend most of their time in the Finch area. 91552 was last seen by Amy on 13 Feb, and not seen by Roger on 30 March (D.A. 7 March ± 3 wks). 81641 seems to have replaced an unwanted ♂ at Finch, also between 13 Feb-30 March. Meanwhile, 91627 was at Finch (the Sycamore granary) all winter, apparently with a ♀NOBA who was then replaced by 81641 (see above). The 91627 died last week (found by Morrie), and it's possible that 91823 from Wolfpack is thinking of replacing here. But otherwise only 81641 remains at Finch. Now the real mystery. The Finch Valley Oak granary was quite full this winter (it's now empty): Who filled it? Amy's notes suggest some activity in the VO but do not specify who was hanging out there. Roger saw a NOBA pair there on 30 March. It's unlike Amy to have missed a pair of birds like this, although things were obviously messy here and it is possible, I suppose. On the other hand, she never really reported anyone else there either. So, I'll just have to guess that there was a NOBA pair here this winter (group BONGO).
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1991 1992 Walter D Koening 3 Melanerpes formicivorus Finch HUNGRY (21 April) Presumably they showed up last fall, were missed this winter, and have recently run out of acorns and may have already abandoned. 1 July 955. Set up to get the ♀ NOBA. 1200. 8164! (finally) fed. 1st feeding so far! 1220. And 81637. So where's the ♀? 1255. Giving up. Try again tomorrow. Very hot today. 2000. I missed his bands but based on his rather distinctively scruffy face I'm sure that 8164! roosted in the nest tonight. 2 July 545. Set up again. 630. Got her! Now 92013. Released at 820 4 July 715. Back for the recapture. 840. Both ♂♂ feeding, but no ♀ yet. 1100. Looking grim. ♀ came once but the bobber inexplicably fell down, scaring her away at the critical moment. 1150. Bad luck at this one! ♀ never returned after the one attempt. Giving up. 7 July 1130. Banded and bled the 3 babies here. 1992 1 January 1000. No stored acorns here in either tree! 19 January But there are birds here (as of October). 4 April 1300. Still no stores here. 21 October 800. Ambushed here this morning after 2 ♂♂ roosted in the high cycamore hole but alas! only 92615 emerged.
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Bongo NOBA HNHR 4 April Not sure how long this pair has been here; I'd guess all winter (with the Valley Oak stores counted at Finch on 7 January [=430] belonging to this pair). Still trying to figure out roosting here! 19 April 1150. Sat here for a bit; didn't see anyone. Also, the grawany appears to be empty! Looks like Bongo might be in for a short history this time around. 21 April See Finch notes re this group. 8 May 530. At least 1 bird roosted in the big leaning sycamore last night, but the ambusher screwed up, so I don't know who. 10 June 1010. Hung out here for an hour or so but saw nothing interesting. No sign of a nest or even of a group, really. 24 June *Group Update* No sign of birds here this spring. Abandoned by ~15 April.
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1991 1992 Waltw D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus MacFlat HINHR 7 January 1030. Managed to find 220 acorns in the neager excuses for granaries that the birds have here. They do have some holes in the burned snag across the road (near the LiveOak nest hole) but it's empty. Est. capacity (with the burned tree): ~1000. 27 January *Group Update* jl853. NSAB. Note that This group has basically shifted over to Road 3, not unexpectedly. Presumably they've also stored the few acorns that are here. 1992 1 January 945. No stores in any of the trees here.
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1991 Walter D. Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Road 3 HNHR 7 January 1020. Bird flushed! There are stores here: Main tree: 1220) 1560. VO: 340 This group exists once more, although I suppose it's possible that there are the MacIat birds over here storing.... (Yes - fide Amy). 4 May 1030. Checked the new (likely) hole here for Mark: empty. 24 May 915. Retrieved a parasite board and put in another one; also weighed the 3 babies: ① 16.6 Or (Mark Kien) ② 13.9 (Mark Raline) ③ 3.1 The nest was feisty (relatively) but on the way out nonetheless. 27 May 1900. Parasite board gone. Only 2 babies left. 2 June 2015. Watched roosting. Bird in the hole when I got there just stayed. However, I got lucky and ③ rel/M #1633 came to the hole at one point and then left; hence, I think I can safely conclude that ③1510 spent the night in the nest. See back for some face markings. (or it could have been the ③(③1451), apparently!) 5 June Morné watched tonight and got ③1633 roosting! 6 June Morné reports tonight that ③1451 spent the night in the nest! Not only may this be a first (she was, as far as he knew, by herself) but this now makes once for all 3 birds here roosting in the nest! (but see note attendant for June) 8 June 2000. The bird never left so I don't know who roosted here tonight but it was a ③, markings consistent with ③1510 (but I have no comparable look at ③1633 as yet). 11 June 2000. ③1854 came by but then only ③1510 roosted
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1991 Walter D Keemig 1992 Melanerpes formicivorus Road 3 (11 June) in the nest. 15 July 1630. There are some stores here still, or at least stored dog chow pieces that look like stored acorns. (This is a supplemented group) 1992 1 January 945. Counted stores: Main tree: 275? 335 20 10: 60 Not much, really, but something. Also checked The MacFlat granaries and found no stored acorns. 8 March * * Group update * 8(854. Last seen 16 June'. Gone by 22 Oct '91 → DA. 19 Aug ± 2mo 4 April 1300. For all intensive purposes, stores are exhausted here. 9 May 1740. Bird in hole'. See back →
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Bird in hole: 9 May 1740 Hole is this one facing creek Looking from 10m up road (beyond granary) on E side of road (across from granary)
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanopus formicicinus School Hill HNHR 4 January 1235. Counted stores: Main tree: 1970 2030 20 tree: 60 Trees are fairly full; I'd put capacity at 22500. 27 January *Group Update* 81387. Last seen 16 April, gone by 15 July → DA. 30 May ±6 wks. 4 March 81620. Last seen 3 Oct, gone by 26 Oct → DA 15 Oct ±2 wks. 5 March 900. Ambushed the lower Blue Oak hole tonight with Morne and Roger, catching the 2 1st yr birds (81899 81900) along with the ♀NOBA, now 81903. Maybe we'll eventually be able to figure out what went on here last summer? 5 April 900. Watching, with the thought, at least, of doing a mate-guarding watch. There egg acorns remaining here. 925. ♀(m)/m #8899 flew in. Now 288! 933. A ♂ flew to a new hole in one of the upper Valley Oaks! This is no doubt The one we missed last year! Now 2 girls up there! Birds going in & out of the hole. 945. Well, I think this does in the mate-guarding. Better go check the hole instead! 1115. Well! I went up and opened the hole from below, finding it empty and still being built. But it was also very rotten and very hard to put back together, so I moved up and started to open a hole on top of the limb, only to have the whole limb collapse and fall off! Oops! So much for that hole. At least it won't collapse when they have babies! 25 April 1130. After Mark reported 4 incubated eggs in the upper hole of the 4th enclosure tree I went up and placed 2 cardboard.
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1991 Waldo Poenig Melanerpes formicivorus School Hill! HNTUR (25 April) parasite boards, one in the bottom of the hole and one nailed to the cutout. (Thumbtacks are the likely answer to how to keep these intact.) Presumably I'll remove these after 1-2 days. 29 April Mark finally took the boards out - the one nailed to the cutout looked empty, but the other was crawling with lice! Also - 6 birds were ~3 to today, so each board was in for (4 d total) [illegible] of incubation + 3d of nestlings. Looks good! 8 May 1930. Watched roosting at the nest tonight and unambiguously identified 8 or 1385 roosting alone by himself in the nest. 10 May 1930. Tonight, both 8 or 1385 and 8 DB/DB 1388 roosted in the nest together. 15 May 1945. 2 birds roosted in the nest again tonight, One was 81385, the other zipped in so fast I missed him/her. (Presumably it was 81388, but I can't be sure.) 21 May 1945. Only "speedy" roosted in the nest tonight, again being so fast I missed him completely. Again I can guess it's 81388, but it's only a guess. It probably isn't 81385. 22 May 1945. Once again, "speedy" roosted in the nest by himself. I was ready for him this time though, and ambushed the nest. Imagine my surprise to find a 8 NOBA (now 81917)!! Especially with no bag - I had to hand carry him down the tree and to the lab. So who is this bird? Possibilities would seem to be
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1991 WaltwD Koenig 1992 Melanerpes formicivorus School Hill HNHR (22 May) ① a baby from the nest we presumably missed from (last summer, or ② a random bird roosting in the nest who doesn't even belong in the group. Note that he had tail spots (1st year?) but a very long bill (35mm - adult?); also note that no one from Amy on down the line has seen a &NOBA here since we caught those babies last July. Hence my inclination is for the latter, but perhaps we'll get additional information as time goes on (like whether we ever see him again or not after this). 10 June 800. None in any holes here. Also no one at S.H."B". Still plenty of stored acorns here. 24 June 1440. 2 Galgries seen in passing. 1992 2 January 1545. Counted stores: Main tree: 444? 454. 20 tree: 10 Not very much here; barely enough to squeak by, I'd say. 19 January *Group Update* 81388, 81899 → both last seen 26 May, gone by 16 Oct. → D.A. 10 Aug ± 2 month. Babies → NISAB. 28 April 1445. Watched for ~20 min.; checked holes: zilch. 30 April 1530. Hung out here for an hour or so, learning virtually nothing. One bird did karrit in the lower storage area a bit. 8 May 910. Watching from side of field.
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1992 Waltir D. Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus School Hill HNHR (8 May) 1055. ① 8° or ① 385 down along path in tree. 1205. I give up. Can't find anything, really. What is going on here? 12 May 1115. After a couple more roost watches I came up here this morning and finally found the nest - in a Valley Oak way off in the forest down below (~30m) The old SH "C" nest tree. Returning with saws (after pulling off the poison oak- vines growing all over the tree) I opened it to find 4 babies ~5 do. Weights were: 21.1, 20.4, 19.3, and 5.5 gm (latter presumably on the way out). 18 May 1520. Set up an ambush here. Only 3 babies left. 19 May 1350. Set up to catch the ♀. 1445. Nobody feeding! Giving up for now. 23 May 1950. Watched roosting tonight: ① 426 roosted in nest. 24 May 640. Set up to get the ♀. 750. Nothing! Going to have to give up entirely, it would appear, though maybe I can try again later in the morning. 1043. Trying again. 1123. Quitting. This clearly isn't going to work. No point risking the babies. 1 June 1500. Banded & bled the 3 babies; the additional Lewis' looks fine. 30 August 1230. New (fall?) nest in the old forest tree! 3 babies: ① 40.2 gm ② 25.3 g ③ 16.3 g [Est #LED = 11 Aug] 1 September 1100. Babies bled. ① 48.0 g ② 29.9 g ③ 15.0 g < going, going...
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes fomiceivorus School Hill West HNNR 4 January 1215. Cornery here is empty; no sign of birds. 27 January *Group Update* Group apparently abandoned as of end of June (maybe later). 25 April 1145. No sign of any life here in passing. 22 May 1920. No one seen in passing. 10 June 800. ♀ in knothole! 3 eggs, incubated! So who are these birds? 11 June 1700. Noone in the hole when I came to set up the blind. 12 June 1600. Watching from blind Again noone in hole (?) Has it failed already? 140. Nope! ♀ in hole. 1800. Woke. ♀ left at about 1730; nobody ever returned, Sun now very bad. 13 June 1435. Trying again. 1510. ♀ in hole 1540. ♀ climbed out: ♀ NOBA! Now: is there a ♂ here? 1632 ♀ NOBA finally returned. ♂ is definitely making himself scarce. ♀ did not have food (I don't think); just still be eggs. All for now; at least I got someone finally. 14 June 1430. And again. 1540. ♀ looking out. 1557. ♀ NOBA leaves. 1700. We give up. If there is a ♂ here, he's maintaining a remarkably low profile. Mark watched here tonight and reports that 2 birds showed up (apparently a ♂ exists after all!) Neither
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1991 1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus School Hill West (14 June) roosted in the nest hole, however; instead, they apparently roosted in the other old nest hole (the low one, most likely). Could be worth an ambush. 15 June 1620. Still 3 eggs. Set up ambush at the non-nest hole. 16 June 440. Got the ♀; now ♂1998. Was the only bird in the non-nest hole; presumably the ♂ was in the nest for a change? 20 June 855. Hole still has the 3 developed eggs, but they're cold and I would not be surprised if they've been abandoned. Now watching for an hour or so. 955. No sign of any life here. 24 June 1500. Removed the 3 eggs, still cold and in the nest. No sign of life here; ♂ apparently abandoned. 1992 2 January 1600. No stores or sign of life here. Note, however, that the knothole nest has fallen and is no more. Doche shade. *Group no doubt abandoned fall '91 * (Probably abandoned earlier - 1 July). 28 April 1430. Bird flew out of the tree here, presumably from the low nest hole. Check ASAP! 30 April 1430. None in hole. Checked it: in good shape but empty. 8 May 1000. None in the hole, but 1 bird flushed from the area. 15 May 815. Bird flushed from the hole! Better check it again! 18 May 1535. ♂ in hole. Watching. 1640. ♂ still looking out! Gave up & checked the hole: 4 eggs
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes famicivorus School Hill West HNHR 21 May 1240. Watching. Flushed a ♂ from the nest hole. (So, unlike last year, there is a ♂ here!) ♀ Or-LG/M ♀ Or-La/or . came almost immediately. 1400. ♀ still in The hole. 1445. Giving up. ♂ still a mystery. ♀ is ♂1998 - same ♀ as last year!! 24 May 1145. Back to try for the ♂. ♀ in the hole. 1330. Leaving. ♀ still in hole, waiting for the ♂, as have I for the past 1¾ hrs. 1 June 1520. Babies are in here! Checked the nest: 2 babies & 1 unhat- ched but developed egg. Babies not weighed; maybe 5 do? [est. LED = 16 May] 11 June 940. Babies are screaming away! Set an ambush and an now going to try for the ♂ here. 1035. Both birds finally fed! ♂ is ♂ (Blk-BPk(N)) something. 1042. I take it back: ♂ is ♂ (Blue / Blk-BPk(N)) . Should be enough for an ID (Note Jim's ID here of ♂ or or Mv/M) Bands look pretty fresh. 1200. Leaving. These are certainly the only 2 birds here. 1230. He's ♂1608 - a 1988 nesting from 1500 who was the ♂ here in 1990, and very possibly (one must guess) last year as well. 17 June 1045. Set up for the ♀ for DLW. 1245. I give up. Going to band the babies. 1305. Turns out to be only 1. 13 September 1430! 2 babies, ~23 do, in the low hole! Amazing. Not banded (I didn't have blood stuff); I'll have to return ASAP. Est. LED = 11 August. A strange year indeed!
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1992 Walter D. Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus ARF too HNHR 38 May 755. Set up to nab the ♀ her for DLW. 900. Nope. Not this time. May try again later today. 29 May 1530. Trying again for an hour. 1620. They came! Both the ♂ NOBA and the ♀, who I nabbed and injected by 1630. At least I'll finally get her ID.... ♀ is 1649, a 1988 Blomone baby! 3 babies here, by the way. 31 May 1705. Back for the recepture. 1870. Got her! Bill (Culmen): 32.4 mm. Molting 4th to 10 2 June 1100. Set up to nab the ♂ for banding. 1230. Got the ♂. Also banded & left the 3 babies, even though they're a tad young. 17 September 1500. 2 adults in upper nest hole (in blue oak). No stores yet here.
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Black Oak 6 January 1430. Counted stores: Central area: 1207) Side area-1st tree: 1795 2nd tree: 710) The 1st tree in the side area is rapidly becoming a major storage facility here, with acorns all in and around the bark (a la Al). These birds are doing pretty well; I'd put capacity at no more than 4500. 27 January *Group Update* 81632. Returned! First seen 20 Jan '91, not here 6 Dec '90 → 28 Dec ± 3 wks j1800, 1801, → NSAB. 81213? Last seen 28 May, gone by 29 Sept. → DA 28 July ± 2mo ♀18095 2 April 1100. Fair number of stores left here. 12 May 1830. Came up early and found the nest here, which is a new hole in the Black Oak down the hill where they used to roost once upon a time. 13 May 945. Opened the hole: 4 babies ~7 do. Put in a parasite board. 1935. Watched roosting here tonight: 1 bird: ♂ Blk/or-wh #426. [illegible] 21 May 1530. Set up to try and nab the helpers I don't have blood from. 1620. ♀1190 fed. 1645. ♂426, ♂744 both fed. 1745. Giving up for now. Not a great day for this, it would seem. 22 May 1230. Ready to go again. 1400. Mistakenly got the ♀(1110). I give up. This is not worth it.
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1991 1992 Walden D Koenig 2 Melanerpes formicivorus Black Oak HNHR 26 May 1945. Chased The 8 out at 1915 tonight so as to be sure to get him, and I did: 8426 roosted alone in the nest. 29 May Mark banded the 4 babies here and added 2 transplanted Lewis' Woodpeckers to the brood. 31 May 2000. Danny watched and reported that 8426 roosted alone in the nest. 15 June 15DD. Plenty of stores left here. Saw 2 birds, but no babies. 24 June *Group Update* 81006. Last seen 20 Jan '91 by Amy; gone by spring nest ~15 April → D.A. 3 March ± 6 wks. 22 July "A couple of hundred acorns left" (MTS) 1992 1 January 1515. There are no stored acorns here! (But I did flush a bird, so someone is still interested in this area, at least.) 30 March *Group Update* (a guess) ♀(704, ♂(494). Seen here 12 Dec; Abandoned → ~920100. Everyone else (!). Abandoned ~ 910800 1 Sept. ± 3 months This group is unoccupied (!) Incredibly enough. What is wrong up here? 29 April 940. No birds in holes here, except for a Nuthatch in the '90 nest hole. literally without stopping 941. A bird flew by, apparently on his way far below...? 955. No real sign that this territory is occupied. Leaving. 27 May 940. Bird in new hole on the long straight limb in central area. 1125. Bird in the hole again. That's it, I'm afraid. 4 June 1400. Opened the hole. Not an easy one by any means.
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1992 WaltrD Koenig Melanerpes fomicivorus Black Oak HNHR 17 June 1450. Went up to get things set up at the nest to catch the ♂ only to find 1 dead nestling in the nest!. Baby was DBlue; wt: 46.0gm; WL: 28mm. Had been dead not too long. The bad weather seems to have had an effect after all at least at places like this with no stores. 19 June 1950. 3 birds roosted in the poison oak tree hole. 11 September No sign of a nest here; birds are storing already (new acorns in the granary). 16 October 600. Ambushed the high hole ('92 nest hole) in the central area, nabbing the ♀ 1190 and the ♂ NOBA. These are apparently the only 2 birds left here.
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1991 Walter D Koenig 1992 Melanerpes famicivorus SOBO HNHR 6 January 1445. The granary here is reasonably full of acorns, but I didn't count them. 4 March *Coverup Update* Amy has watched here several times and invariably seen only 81039! By Duane ±2mo. ♀1410, 8736, last seen late June 1990, gone by 10 Oct. → DA 17 Aug 81039. Changed to breeder; only bird here most or all of winter! 2 April 1115. No stores, but one bird seen here in passing. 22 May 1130. Didn't see anything here in a quick check. 31 May 1100. Stores are indeed gone. No birds seen in passing. Still no one in the great artificial cavity here. 1992 1 January 1700. As far as I can tell, there are lots of old shells but no intact acorns stored here. Along with Black Oak, these birds (this bird?) has presumably abandoned. 19 January *Group (81039!) abandoned summer 91* 29 April 945. Watched for a short bit; nada. 27 May 940. Watching. One bird just flew by! 1000. There is [illegible] (at least) a pair here: ♀ appears banded. They were over by their old nest tree, then flew back to main area. 29 May 1400 Walked through, didn't see nothing, though.
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes fomiceivorus Arnold! HNHR 7 January 930. Counted stores: 4412. Their tree is pretty well loaded; I'd put capacity at ~4800. 27 January *Group update* ①♀1408, ♂1660. Last seen 15 May, gone by 29 Sept. → DA 22 July ± 2 mo ②[illegible] 4 March ♂1797. Last seen 20 Oct, gone by 4 Nov. → DA 27 Oct ± 1 wk. 3 April 1205. Lots of stores still here! 14 April 820. Brought Morni up to attempt a mate-guarding watch. 920. So far have seen: ①♀1212, ②♂1026, ③♂1340, ④♂1795, ⑤♂1798. ⑥♂1027. 930. These birds are flying over and hanging out at UA2 (about ¼-⅓ of the time). 20 April Ambushed this morning at 2 holes: (1) A new hole in a Madrone (!) back behind Big Tree. This hole had ♂1563 and ♂1795. (2) The next hole in the UA2 granary (these birds have been hanging around UA2 a lot, which is otherwise empty [but see who I caught]). This hole had ♂1027 and ♂1222 - the latter a bird that's been yo-yoing between UA2 & A1 for some time (years, in fact). Interestingly, however, he presumably had returned to UA2 after feeding at A1 last spring, then abandoned with everyone else. Has he since returned? Or has he been here all along, consistently being mistaken for ♂1026 (whose band pattern is very similar) (note that I altered his [♂1222's] bands to finally solve this).
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1991 (Waltir) Koenig Melanerpes fomincirous Arnold! (20 April) Also note that Philip's ratio-tracking lots of birds here; he ambushed ~10d ago and tracked 81795, 1027, 1796, & 1798 (he also tried to track 81799, but the bird was very weak and died shortly after release). Today he reattached a new radio to 81027 (who had lost his), gave 81222 & 81563 radios, and T-implanted 81795. Lots going on here! Unfortunately, with 861026 & 1340 still unpainted it may still be all but impossible to do mate-guarding here. 26 May 1945. Morné watched tonight: 81222 roosted here for sure along with (probably but not definitely) 81027. 31 May As far as Morné could tell, nobody roosted in the nest tonight (!!) even though the babies are in there and the birds were roosting nearby. They're too young for this... what's up. 8 June 1145. After another apparent no-show at the nest last night I climbed up to check: 2 babies, looking fine. 14 June Morné watched here tonight and got 81222 roosting by himself in the nest! 19 June 2000. I flushed 2 birds out of the hole at about 1940; nobody came back. 24 June *Group Update* 81562. Last seen 21 Jan, gone by 14 April -> DA. [illegible] ± 5 wks. 22 July "Lots of acorns left" (MTS)
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Arnold J HNHR 1 January 1630. Counted stores: 1525. Granary is reasonably full. 19 January *Group update* 8(583, 1795, 1798, all last seen 20-22 Apr. 1991, gone by Mid-June → D.A. 10 May ± 1 month. 8(1796. Seen 17 June, gone by 1 Nov. → DA 25 Aug ± 2 mo. 21 May 1945. Noone roosted in the nest tonight; babies apparently are too old. 14 June Stored acorns remaining here (supplemented group).
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes fuscicollis Keep Out HNHP 6 January 1640. Counted stores: Main tree: 2378 ? 2954. Others (inc. LO): 576 Doing well here-The Main tree is downright crammed full (and hard to count). I'd put capacity at <3500, probably about 3200. 27 January *Group Update* '1835, 1837, 1838. NSAB. 61382. Last seen 15 June, gone by 4 Oct -> DA 8 Aug ±6 wks 61754. " " 6 June, " " -> DA 6 Aug ±6 wks 4 March 81016. " " 22 Oct, " " 21 Jan->DA 5 Dec±6 wks. 2 April 1200. Lots of stores here, and a bird in a hole! Should be checked soon. 15 May 1545. Watching. Still looking for that nest 1600. 9814 (or #1668). There it is - last year's hole. 4 June 2000. 81127 roosted by himself in the nest tonight. 7 June 2000. Amid the hoards of mosquitoes, 81127 roosted in the nest again tonight. 11 June 815. Set up to get the 9 for DLW. 850. Got her! 13 June 957. Set up for The recapture 1025. Got her! 14 June 2000. Once again, 81127 roosted in the nest. 24 June *Group Update* 81836. Last seen 21 Jan, gone by ~1 May->DA. 12 March±6 wks. 22 July Acorns ("lots") remaining (MTS).
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes famicivorus Keep Out HNHR 1 January 1615. Counted stores here: Main tree: 680 7695. Other area: 15 30 March *Group update* Everyone gone except for 81127 and 2 NOBA ♀♂ behaving fairly new on 3/25. 20 April 1830. Here watching roost. 1910. 3 birds here; lots of pre-roost mounting. All roosted in The hole in the granary. 8 would be easy to ambush. 29 April 1130. Fair amount of activity here; even a little chasing & drumming. ♀NOBA seen (1, anyway). 1135. Definitely either a couple of persistent intruders here or some residual "power struggle" activity. Maybe the ♀♂ aren't completely settled here after all. 2 July 600. Caught 81127 and (finally) ♀NOBA (now 2125) in a hole in the Live Oak (2nd nest hole). ♀ wouldn't come out - finally had to saw the hole open to get her! 25 August Valerie found 81754 dead on the ground slightly up the canyon from the granary (Maybe 100-150m up away from the granary and Hastings). She had seen the bird earlier (on 20 Aug) up in a tree, dead. It's not at all obvious what happened - he's tried up and contorted now and has no obvious wounded wound. ?? What happened? 3 December Another unexplained casualty: a ♀NOBA, dead in a hole in the burned Live Oak; she'd been there quite awhile, perhaps a month at least. What's going on here?
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes fuscicollis Lambert HNHR 6 January 1615. Counted stores: Nest tree (VO): 516 H.VO: 420 H. fallen tree: 992 Not too bad here, although they still aren't using the Lambert fallen tree. In any case, I'd put capacity (without the latter) at <2500. 27 January *Group Update* 861489, 1491. Last seen 26/28 June, gone by 10 Oct. → DA ~ 19 Aug ± 6 wks 2 April 15 May 1500. Set up to get blood from the birds here (watching the nest). 1575. Got the ♀ (1378). Bleed and measured her; put her back in the hole at 1530. Leaving for now. By the way, the ants in this tree are wicked: a one of the worst around. 21 May 1313. Set up to get the ♂762, from whom I have no blood. 1500. Giving up. Maybe better nail this guy at dawn? (The ♀ fed once, but noone else showed up) 22 May 910. Here again for the ♂. 1130. Giving up. This is too hard and too slow. Morning it will have to be. 25 May 1600. Banded and bled the 3 babies here. Should be #1918-1920. 26 May 2025. Ambushed after dark and finally nailed ♂762, who was bled, rebanded, and stuck back in the nest. 22 July "Still some acorns [not a lot]" (MTS).
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Walter D Koenig 1992 Melanerpes fomicius Lamburt HNHR 1 January 1600. I counted 75 acorns in the Lambert Fallen Tree and saw none elsewhere. Some of these definitely looked good, suggesting that someone might still be around here. 19 January *Group probably abandoned fall '91* 29 April 1115. None in any holes here. Didn't hear anyone, either. 27 May By the way, The Hastings VO fell late last winter or early spring. 25 August 1500. Valerie had seen a bird in a hole here so we went up and sure enough-a bird flushed from a hole in the normal nest tree. However, I opened it to find not a nest but a -> dead, unbandd F in the hole!! She had tail spots, very brown 2nd & 3rd primaries, and was rather small (wing 135mm) as well as very thin (wt=54g; keel protruding a lot); she also seemed fairly fresh (no smell even). So why did she die? Starvation? There are green, almost ripe acorns in the very tree in which I found her! And what a coincidence to have 2 dead birds right here (see Keep Out notes)! Very strange indeed.
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Fanny Arnold HNHR 6 January 1600. Counted stores: "New" snag: 1325 ? 1325 Fenceline area: O These birds seem to have given up on the fenceline area, at least for now. The new snag, in contrast, is pretty full, and they even have a few acorns stored in nearby dead parts of other trees. Est. capacity (including fenceline area): ~2000. 27 January *Group Update* 01701. Last seen 28 Feb '90. Gone by 13 April -> DA 21 Mar ±3 wks 01023. Last seen 27 April, Gone by 15 June -> DA 21 May ±3 wks 01527. " " 30 Sept, Gone by 9 Oct -> DA 4 October. 2 April 1145.! Maingramany ("New" snag) has fallen and is now empty and on the ground! No other stores to be seen! 7 April 1610. ♀ M/red-? #1749 (probably) seen here. Otherwise quiet. 31 May 815. Watching from blind. 842. ♀ LB(red) #1371. ♂ DB-wh(n)(red) #699 sapsucking. 915. ♂ wh-blu/ Loran #1527 (white & Lorean seen well). 923. Better look: ♂ M/(N) #1527 (or maybe even DB-wh-red on LL). fall (see 27 Jan). 1000. No obvious sign of a nest anywhere. But there are birds here. If they don't have a nest already they could still very well start one sooner rather than later. 10 June 915. Watching. 945. Birds apparently sapsucking across the fenceline. Checking holes. 22 July No acorns (MTS).
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus Fanny Arnold HNHR 1 January 1550. No sign of any stores here in the few remaining storage facilities *Group abandoned fall '91* 8835. Last seen 21 Jan '91, gone by 31 May → DA 26 Mar±2mo. 28 April 1100. No one seen here in passing. 19 September 1430. Set up to catch 91371 at the nest. 1500. 288 feeding: 81699 plus ...? (Banded). 8 M/BT-WN(CN) wh-cg/ 1545. Giving up for now. No 99 fed... Looks like 81527 [actually M/DB-YC(N) DB-WN/LAEREN] 20 September 620. Trying again. 645. 81527 fed. 81699. 734. 8 M/Red #1749 here, but not feeding. 806. 91371! Got her'. Also banded and bled the kits (3). I kept track of feedings up to that of 91371; the summary: Start: 623 (103 min) 81527: 8 feeds 1st feed: 643 81699: 5 feeds, 2 RFS End: 806 Acorns: 3 Insects: 0
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1991 1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes fomiscivorus UAZ HNHR 6 January 1540. I'm not sure I believed it when Amy told me there weren't any birds here, but indeed, the granaries are plumb empty! Amazing! *Group Update* Group abandoned, apparently in late summer or very early fall. Why? Beats me. Everyone else has acorns here. Some disaster must have overcome this group. 2 April 1140. Still no sign of anything here 31 May 900. Several (2-3) birds were just over here making some worse. 22 July No stores. 1992 1 January 1545. No stored acorns here. 19 January *Group update* £1874. Last seen 31 May, gone by 12 Nov. -> D.A. 20 Aug ±2 mo.
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1991 Waltd Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus LA2 HNHR 6 January 1530. Counted stores: Main tree: 2886 Back areas: 694 This group is doing just fine. Capacity is probably <4000; their storage areas are pretty much filled. 27 January *Group Update* j1869. NSAB. j1871. Last seen 13 July (Susanne), gone by 4 Oct. → 23 Aug 5w. 2 April 1135. Lots of acorns still here. 12 May Watched roosting tonight to try and identify who roosts in the nest. 81234+? roosted 1930. Well, "2" success. Two girls spent stayed in the hole; I was either 81234 or 81870; since the latter is a helper I'll presume the former. The 2nd I missed! I'll have to try again to confirm. 13 May 1935. Tonight 81874 and 81234 entered the hole; the 8 left leaving 81234 to roost alone in the nest tonight. 81234 roosted in vagt 18 May 1930. 81234 roosted in nest by himself again tonight. 23 May 1550. Came up to 6 band babies but the smallest are still kind of small and I failed to bring anything to plug the blood tubes with. There are 6 babies crammed in the hole here, however. 1950. Nomi watched tonight and once again had 81234 roosting by himself in the nest. 25 May 1600. Banded and bled the 6 babies here. 15 June 1430. Definitely lots of stores left here. 22 July Still lots of stores (MTS).
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1992 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus LAZ HNHR 1 January 1545. Counted stores: Burned tree: 2815 } 3090. Other areas: 275 } The burned tree in particular is located. These birds, at least, are doing remarkably well. (Note that They may never have run out last summer. Nonetheless, They have a lot of new acorns.) Definitely bucking the trend here. 28 April 1045. Checked The nest: 4 babies, 3 fine (2-3 do), 1 on The way out, and 2 unhatched eggs (1 X), 1 Runt). 21 May 1950. J.m watched The nest: no one roosted with it. 14 June Stored acorns remaining here. 17 September 1415. Banded & bled the 2 babies here in their fall nest.
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1991 Walter D Koenig Melanerpes fomnicivorus Bianca HNHR 6 January 1990. Counted stores: "Main" tree: 150 Small to by nest area: 310 460 It's still a mystery why these birds store so few acorns in their "main" granary; it's fairly empty and could probably hold 1200 acorns if they worked at it. In all, I'd put capacity at about 1700 here. Obviously they aren't doing so well, although they do have some acorns. 27 January * Group update * 81517. Last seen 26 July, gone by 10 Oct → DA 2 Sept ±1 Mo. 2 April 1120. No stores seen here! 12 May 1840. Bird in the '89 nest hole. Nesty, perhaps? With 2♀, it might be worth watching here. 13 May 900. Checked the hole: looks not quite ready (but close); I doubt they've laid any eggs as yet. 8 June 1020. Watching for a bit. 1040. There are birds around, but mostly too far away to ID. 1048.♀ Lb/M #1462(?) ② ♀ Maawe/Yel #1463. 1105.♂ DB-or/Dr-DB #1232. 1110. Leaving. No sign of a nest, but the birds (minus, perhaps, the helper ♂) are definitely here. 15 June 1445. ♀ R-BLK/Red sapsucking. No one in any holes. ~w/ binocs. Maybe ♂1232? I think or. 1449. No. Definitely a ♀; definitely Red or Orange on R leg. 24 June * Coverup Update * 81515. Last seen 3 Feb, gone by 23 May (Danny) → D.A. 30 March ±6 wks.
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1992 Walter D Koening Melanerpes formicivorus Bianca HNHR 1 January 1515. No stored acorns anywhere here. 19 January *Group update* 01515, Last seen 3 Feb '91, gone by 8 June -> DA 5 Apr. 2 no. *Group abandoned fall '91* 28 April 1030. Hen for ½ hr, during which a bird Carricked here on 2 occasions. No other activity, however. 1040. Bird swooped in: 8 gr/Mv. [illegible]. Someone here after all. 27 May 1045. Found the nest - in a new hole in the traditional tree. Sounds like babies (not real old, though). 29 May 1430. Opened the hole here with Mark; 3 babies ~9-10 do. 4 September 1500. Nest! 3 babies! In the other nest hole (not this year's). Set up an ambush for Mark; babies maybe 16 do(?) (Up here looking for nests with Jan Ekman and his wife.)
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