1982 R.C. Mumme Melanerpes formicivorus ARE 18 April Drivingby at 1400, Alan + F find a few (<200) acorns remaining in the granary here. Alan saw a bird fly off as we approached. The roost hole in the dead rotte limbs of the VO near the granary has fallen, during the winter sometime, I would presume. 8 May No luck in finding holes, nests, or birds in a good bit of wandering around. 19 May Watching her to try to find a nest. I see a FNVB carrying insects toward the area south of the granary (on E side of road), in the general direction of the high Valley Oak hole there, but I wasn't convinced that that was the hole she was flying toward. I will have to try again here. 25 May Better luck today, as F finally locate the nest. It is in a dead stub of a VO just beside the one mentioned above. The birds are feeding, but not brooding, so F should get up here ASAP. Shouldn't be too much of a problem with the extension ladder. Back with Alan at 1700. It is more of a problem than I thought. The nest limb is very soft trotter, and it was quite dangerous. Nonetheless I managed to band 3 babies ~9 days old. A bit young, but I wasn't going to go up to that hole again! Very difficult to put back together, too. Anyway, the nestlings are now J729, J730, J731.