[obol] FWD: WOODPECKER TERRITORIAL BEHAVIOR - Hairy Woodpecker Images

[Bill Clemons]

The below FWD post is from Tweeters by John Tubbs.

Good photo John, and exactly the type of posturing we saw from the 2 DOWNY females at Ridgefield.

Bill Clemons
SW of Portland in Mtn Park
Willclemons AT Yahoo dot com


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Subject: WOODPECKER TERRITORIAL BEHAVIOR - Hairy Woodpecker Images
From: johntubbs AT comcast.net
Date: Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:32:43 +0000
Hi Bill and Everyone,

Bill Clemons and Jeff Kozma brought up woodpecker territorial interaction. At 
the Elk Heights Burn in mid-May, I witnessed this behavior between two HAIRY 
WOODPECKER males, who persisted in the behavior for a good ten minutes. I had 
my camera with me and so was able to get a number of images, although still 
photos of course don't really do much justice to the intense and highly 
choreographed live behavior. But the following link at 
http://www.tubbsphoto.com/-/tubbsphoto/detail.asp?photoID=6321623&cat=38983 
will give some idea of the posture Bill described in his first post. In this 
case, the birds are two male Hairy Woodpeckers. There was no doubt when 
watching this behavior that its intent was aggressive, though as Jeff 
commented, no actual physical contact ensued. However, the birds did this, "I'm 
badder than YOU are!!" "Oh, YEAH, no you're NOT!!" routine quite aggressively 
and would go from tree to tree repeating it, although they stayed in the same 
general area th! 

 at the 
confrontation first occurred.  

Regards,

John Tubbs
Snoqualmie, WA
johntubbs AT comcast.net
www.tubbsphoto.com