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Supplemental Bird Blog: Two in the Bush

By Andy Axel
Created Jun 2 2008 - 00:10

A single red-headed woodpecker is something of a rare spot.

I imagine that two is even rarer.

[1]

(Cropped and 'shopped for color/tone, but otherwise intact.)

Based on descriptions of the bird, I imagine that this is possibly a mated pair. They typically lay eggs in early May with a two-week gestation. Both were spirited browsers, but I don't know that I saw them simultaneously except for a fleeting moment.

(I also watched a male bluebird, at 1/5th of the size, chase one of these fellers out of the yard. The description I mentioned earlier indicates that RHW's are famously omnivorous, eating not only nuts and insects, but also hatchlings and eggs of other birds. The blues are in a nestbox and have a clutch of five, and are fiercely protective of same.)


Source URL:
http://www.knoxviews.org/node/8053