As the male waited patiently on the limb outside, she entered, stayed perhaps thirty seconds then backed out and flew way. Evidently it was not to her approval. To my knowledge the male never entered the hole again. I'm sure I saw her shake her head in disapproval just before she flew away. Boots Is "Treed" One other disappointing incident occurred in the lives of the red bellied woodpeckers that made their nests in my tree. Two young woodpeckers had hatched several weeks earlier. On this particular afternoon I had watched the parent's unsuccessful attempt to coax the young to come out of the nest hole. |
Early the next morning, while reading the morning paper I heard an awful commotion coming from outside in the vicinity of my tree. Stepping outside I saw several crows, starlings and woodpeckers in a frenzy. They were all screaming and diving at a larger bird which, at a quick glance appeared to be another crow sitting on a dead limb in the chinaberry tree about twenty feet above my head. As the birds continued their attack, I realized it was not a crow, but a short tailed hawk. The wild melee continued for another minute as the excited birds bombarded the hawk. As the hawk flew to avoid its attackers, I saw a young woodpecker dangling helplessly from its talons. There was a bright side to this incident however, as the other young red bellied woodpecker survived and was flying with its parents in a few days. Gray squirrels have provided constant hours of entertainment as they cavorted over the limbs of the chinaberry tree. Quite frequently the family cat Boots, unknowingly has become a player in a charade with a young male squirrel. The episode usually starts when the cat is at the base of the tree. Mr. Squirrel will come down the trunk of my tree and approach the cat, twitching his tail, saying catch me if you can! When the lazy cat decides he can't stand it any longer, he rushes up the tree, only to find the nimble squirrel has circled the trunk and is now on the opposite side. The cat realizing he can't circle the tree will climb above the squirrel, which is exactly where the cunning squirrel wants him. How this squirrel ever concluded that cats can't come down a tree head first I'll never know, but the squirrel will dart up towards the cat, then retreat, repeating this ritual until it's time for phase two of the game. |
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