[EBB Sightings] Are Downy Woodpeckers Nest Predators?

Hi Hilary,
Nice observation.  What you witnessed was a nonpredatory interspecific
interaction over a nesting cavity.  That is, the Downy Woodpeceker
out-competed the nuthatch for the nesting cavity.  The woodpecker was
looking for a home, not a nuthatch meal or omelette.  Please see the
excerpt below from "The Birds of North America Online"




"The Birds of North America Online"   at    http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna
Issue No. 613
Authors: Jackson, Jerome A., and Henri R. Ouellet

Interactions at Nest and Roost Cavities. A diversity of small primary and
secondary cavity nesters (e.g., nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, House
Sparrows (Passer domesticus), House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon), and flying
squirrels (Glaucomys spp.) will compete with Downy Woodpeckers for nest
and roost cavities (Wilson 1832, Stevenson and Anderson 1994, JAJ). A
Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) attempted to enter a roost
cavity already occupied by a Downy Woodpecker and the Downy repelled it
using physical blows (Pitts 1976)

Wilson, A. 1832. American ornithology. Vol. 1. Chatto and Windus, London.

Stevenson, H. M. and B. H. Anderson. 1994. The birdlife of Florida. Univ.
Press of Florida, Gainesville.

Pitts, T. D. 1976. Fall and winter roosting habits of Carolina Chickadees.
Wilson Bull. 88: 603?610


> This morning, I was treated to the sight of a male Downy Woodpecker
> checking out a hole in a tree by Perkins, just up from Bellevue near
> Lake Merritt. He looked around, looked in, picked out a splinter or two,
> jumped in and out... all the typical "this is a nice apartment; should I
> put down a deposit?" moves, and sweet as can be.
> Except.
> On March 25, the 4th-Wednesday GGAS walk watched in delight as a
> Red-breasted Nuthatch dug that hole in that tree. The nuthatches surely
> didn't bring off a family in the intervening week and a half, but they
>   were not in sight this morning - just the woodpecker and the hole.
> What happened?
> --
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