I've had all three at my feeders. It seems the jays shift back and forth as to
who is dominate at the feeder. However when an ACORN WOODPECKER shows the jays
back off. Have not seen them fight. Matt, you may remember a few years back
when we saw a handful of DOWNEY WOODPECKERS swarming an ACORN WOODPECKER, that
appeared to be investigating their nesting site. Could the ACORN been looking
to eat the young? i think ACORN WOODPECKERS are pretty ( in the parlance of
the kids today) bad ass.
Mark
________________________________________
From: umpquabirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [umpquabirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Matthew G Hunter [matthewghunter@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2017 10:37 AM
To: obol; ub
Subject: [Umpqua Birds] Jay and Woodpecker behavior
My son Daniel put up a platform seed feeder at our place a few months ago.
ACORN WOODPECKERS, with their main granary about 60 ft away, are regulars.
CALIFORNIA SCRUB-JAYS were slow to use the feeder, but do so regularly now,
both in and below the feeder. The JAYS are tolerated by the WOODPECKERS (king
of the feeder), in fact this morning there was one ACORN WOODPECKER and one
SCRUB-JAY feeding on the ground inches from each other. Until this morning, we
had not had STELLER'S JAYS at the feeder.
Glancing out the window this morning I saw a STELLER'S JAY approach and maybe
land or almost land on the feeder. However, immediately, one of the ACORN
WOODPECKERS went after the STELLER'S JAY and drove it to the ground as the JAY
attempted to flee. Immediately the STELLER'S JAY took off from the ground
upward into a nearby tree where we saw there was a second STELLER'S JAY. They
both sat there for a few minutes before moving on and we haven't seen them in
the hour since.
Up to this point we had not seen the ACORN WOODPECKER aggressively go after any
other birds. They typically just fly up to the feeder and the other birds get
out of the way. Why go after the STELLER'S JAY so aggressively (vs getting
along with CA SCRUB-JAYS)? Maybe because it is/was a "new" threat? Or are
STELLER'S particularly a threat to ACORN WOODPECKERS in some way? Any ideas?
Anyone with ACORN WOODPECKERS have a similar or different experience?
Curious,
Matt
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