On Wed, 16 Jun 2004, G. Walker and R. Nesbitt wrote:

> When I first saw the nest hole (after noticing parent activity in the
> area but not seeing either parent on the tree) I thought it might be too
> round to belong to Pileateds.  The first photo shows the nest hole
> without birds and, like the earlier reference, the hole is quite round
> but the lower lip has been chipped away.  It is not the oval shape I'd
> been expecting for Pileateds.

Ginny,

Pileated nest holes are round.  The large, oval holes you are familiar
with are excavations made by the birds in search of food.

Dave
David Mozurkewich
Seabrook, PG MD USA
mozurk @ bellAtlantic.net