1982 R.L. Murme Melanerpes formicivorus Plaque (11 April) any evidence of ♀-guarding. 1510, a nice case of ♂521, ♂473 both following ♀494. Moving up to Adobe 1530, uh-oh, two birds looking into (but not, as far as I saw entering) the 1981 nest hole. Will have to keep an eye on it. I think the hole below the '81 hole is a Starling nest, but not totally discountable. 1545, ♀494 flies back toward the main granary area, followed by two birds, one certainly ♂473. So it seems that ♀ guarding is still in force here They may yet nest here soon. * * * Also, Early AM was extremely windy, and during the night, another major Plague Storage limb fell. This was the dead, downward-pointing limb in the 2º granary. An exact estimate of holes + acorns lost will be forth coming. 12 April Watching here 0620 to 0820. Lots of action and in the new hole, primarily because of a persistent pair of starlings hanging around. 0630 Starling in. 30 sec later, [illegible] starling leaves, ♂473 comes to hole, karrits, flies off. ♂-♀dom → This sort of thing repeated many times. At one point ♂473 and ♀496 were together at the hole, when ♂473 gave ♀496 a gentle peck to the hole. ♂521, ♂473, ♀496, ♀494 all there 0650 ♂473 entered, leaves 0651. 0724 ♀496 enters, leave 0725 Only birds in 0820, checked hole, no eggs