Yesterday afternoon (1/15) I went for a walk without my binoculars, thinking it was too windy for birds to be out. Headed for the sheltered valley of Dumbarton Oaks park - apparently the birds had the same idea, as the bushes, trees and ground were full of them!
Hearing a very agitated Downy Woodpecker, I went to see if I could locate it sans glasses, and it wasn't hard. It was harassing a Red-belly that was investigating the underside of a dead branch that had fallen from a tree and rested between two saplings. The Downy was in constant motion, dive-bombing the Red-belly or just swooping over it, back and forth between the two trees, and chattering the whole time. It appeared to actually peck at the Red-belly a couple times. The larger bird ignored the Downy, occasionally dodging but generally unfazed.
I watched this for several minutes, then returned about 30 minutes later to see what they were fighting over. There was a woodpecker hole in the branch where the Red-belly had been; I couldn't see anything more than that. Were they fighting over a roost, or what?
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Carrol Cowan
Washington DC
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