Choosing a Home

This is an update on the progress of the red-bellied woodpecker nest.  The male spent the best part of three days carving out a nest in the right-hand branch of a tree trunk that had been topped a couple of years ago and is now in decay.  The female finally came in to inspect the nest's suitability.  You can tell the female from the male by the red crest.  On the male, the crest goes all the way from the nape of the neck up and over it's head to the base of the bill and is one of the nicest looking reds you would ever want to see.  The same patch on the female is interrupted on the crown of the head by the same gray color as the rest of the head and the red is a little duller appearing.

The male waited patiently while she looked it over and considered whether it would suffice.  The male, in this photo, is waiting on top of the trunk.  They both met on the top of the trunk afterwards to discuss possibilities. 

She must have had some misgivings about the nest, because after she left, he began carving out a second nest at the top of the left-hand branch of the same tree.  Maybe she had the same concerns I did about how close to the "roof" the nest was in the case of rain.  It seemed to me in a prolonged rain, the water would soak through the top all the way into a nest.

In any case, after she left, he began carving out a hole in the other trunk very near the top also.  Except, you can tell it is much more solid wood by the timber of his pecks as he is working.  The sound of his blows on the other nest were more of a "thunk" and the sound of the pecks on this hole are much brighter.  Which also means a lot more work because the wood is harder to carve out.  Over several days since making her decision, he has only been there occasionally and his efforts only seem half-hearted.  Plus, he doesn't stay very long.  Meanwhile, times a wasting. Then there is another problem.  One that would be true no matter where they build their nest.

A while back, I did a post on a squirrel nest.  Well that nest is only a couple of trees away from the woodpeckers nest site.  A couple of turns on side roads and the squirrel is right there on the main highway.  If they do end up nesting here, and if the squirrels keep coming around, it will be interesting to see how the birds handle it.  Do they attack them with their powerful bills, or do they buzz them to try and get them to leave, or do they passively stand by and watch as a squirrel invades their nesting hole?  It would be interesting to watch, but right now the question is, will the nest even get built?