About 10:30 AM this morning I was standing on Fox Point at SERC and heard the distinct sound of tundra swan.  It sounded like a small flock or a few birds in flight.  My companion and I were not able to locate them and the sound soon disappeared.  We went up to Mayo Beach, usual winter home to a nice flock, but did not locate any.  
 
Best bird at SERC today was a red-bellied woodpecker.  We located it because it was making very loud pounding sounds.  Turns out it was pecking on a very hollow area in a tree.  It was digging a hole about six inches below and an inch or so lateral to a very nice round entry to a cavity nest.  I would guess the entry hole was about three inches in diameter – a bit bigger than a Red Bellied’s head but smaller than his “shoulders”.  We watched the feeding behavior for a bit and wondered about the nest site, what species it might have belonged to.  The Red Bellied’s bill sank very deep into the tree – it was quite a hole it had created!  And all of a sudden a bird burst out of the nest hole!  The red bellied squawked and fluttered back.  Neither of us got a very good look at the bird from the cavity – it was smaller than a red-bellied, about ½ the size, was brown or reddish, had some white on a longish tail.  Guess my best guess would be a screech owl, but then again, I didn’t think “owl” when I saw the burst.  So I dunno. 
 
The red bellied returned and pecked at the hole it had created.  It began to pull out bits of grasses – had to be nesting material!  It seemed to eat things, too.  I don’t know if it was after eggs, after bugs living in the nesting material or what it was eating, actually, but I did think it was eating things.  Every once in awhile it would skitter up to the cavity hole and look inside – just peeking in, never sticking the whole head in.  Then it would go and peck at its "feeding" hole.  It was uncharacteristically quiet the entire time we observed the bird – maybe ten minutes.  
 
Another red-bellied flew in and there was a flutter of wings; one bird flew away.  I believe it was a new bird that stayed, because it had a loose feather on it’s head, fluttering.  The first bird had a nice smooth head!  The second bird, after having run off the first, was quite noisy.  It went and poked in the small hole, then peered in the big hole a few times, back and forth.  It chattered and looked around, without getting engaged in pulling anything out of the small hole, or feeding.  Then it flew away, muttering loudly.  
 
Are Red Bellieds known to predate the nests of other cavity dwellers?  Any guesses on the cavity-bird?  I guess I wonder if there were eggs the Red Bellied was after.  I did not see him with shell, however, but he did stick his bill in and lingered there for a moment or two at times – feeding or probing, I guess.  Any ideas or comments? 
 
Joanne



Joanne Howl, DVM 
West River, MD 



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