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On that event filled morning a lasting bond was established between the old tree and myself. Since that time it has truly been my tree. Over the years, I've spent many enjoyable hours observing and photographing wildlife that have established temporary homes in my tree. A pecking order of occupancy which I call the one, two, three, process seem to prevail. In the early spring the little downy woodpeckers are the first to start nesting. They usually select a healthy limb on the chinaberry tree rather than a dead one. Their preference is a limb that leans slightly. On the lower side the downys will laboriously chisel out a hole about the size of a half dollar, they then proceed to hollow out the softer inner core of the limb to their own specifications. Next after the downys have raised a family, the red bellied woodpeckers enlarge the quarters to suite the family they intend to raise. The third, but not necessarily the last, to occupy the hollowed out facility are the prolific starlings. They don't seem to care if the woodpeckers have finished enlarging the hole or not. They will try to move right in, usually forcing the red bellied woodpeckers to go elsewhere! The red bellied woodpeckers seem to be the most unlucky occupants of my tree, that is if luck has any thing to do with it. Several years ago they selected a vertical limb of about twelve feet in length. The downys had started a hole but gave up for some unknown reason. The red bellied woodpeckers finished enlarging the nest area and moved in. A few days after the female deposited the eggs, an unusual wind storm snapped the limb off at the point where the hollowed out space had weakened it. The eggs were exposed to the elements and the nest was abandoned. "Somebody's trash may become somebody else's treasure." This old adage, my apply to our feathered friends as well. |
The limb that snapped several years ago exposing the red bellied woodpecker eggs left a hollow area that has appealed to a pair of great crested flycatchers. They have made their nests here for the last two years. This year however, a predator got the eggs before they hatched.
Great Crested Flycatchers Have This spring I watched an episode that can only be described as suitor rejection. A male red bellied woodpecker labored for three days enlarging a hole previously started by another woodpecker. Apparently he was unable to turn around inside so he would enter, chisel out some wood chips then back out to deposit the chips outside the hole. The woodpecker repeated this effort time after time. The fourth day a female came to inspect the new "digs." |
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