1982 R.L. Mumme Melanerpes formitivorus Plague (5 April) 0830 Leslie relieves me. She is watching from blind. At 1000 ♀496 enters hole, removes ♀494's egg: How about that!! See Leslies' notes for today. Egg-tossing! However, was today's egg the first egg? Impossible to know, since I didn't find this hole until today. 1300 Opened hole. Empty. Hopefully these birds won't be freaked out by it. I did my best to disguise the cut trails with dap, and then to rough up the dap, so we will just have to wait & see. 6 April 0630, watching hole from blind: Nothing! 0820, ♂473 + ♀496 look in suspiciously for a few seconds, but that's all. No eggs laid, so yesterday's might well have been a "spontaneous abortion" -- another false start. Still heavy guarding of ♀494 by ♂473 + 521 1650, watching for prenesting data, summarized on back. Obvious packing by ♂473 & 521 on ♀494. 7 April Watching here, 0615. Leslie is watching the nest hole up on Adobe. I'm watching to see (1) ♀-guarding, and (2) To see if the birds are inspecting any other holes. ♀-guarding data on back. Leslie reports at least 3 birds inside the nest hole, carrying out wood chips. I checked the hole at 0820, no eggs. However, I saw no evidence that the birds were interested in any other holes: The only times I lost track of them up Adobe Hill, they visited the hole