Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 14:25:18 -0800 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Daniel Edelstein Subject: Hoarding Food Behavior/Red-bellied Woodpecker Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Many of you MDOspreyers who are already familiar with hoarding food behavior, such as the red-bellied woodpecker's recent antics (as reported here on 12/6, 12/7)........and the more notorious and common example from a woodpecker in the same genus, the acorn woodpecker......may be wondering: Does the red-bellied woodpecker defend its stores of sunflower seeds (similar to the way acorn woodpeckers defend their cache of acorns)?.........According to one source, the Birder's Handbook, red-bellied woodpeckers do NOT defend their stores. Are any of the recent red-bellied witnesses noticing otherwise? (Other woodpeckers, jays, Clark's nutcrackers and, even, nuthatches also display "hoarding" behavior...........) Daniel Edelstein Germantown, MD Montgomery County ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================