Woodpecker fans may be interested to know that yesterday evening mea and I
found the Black-backed and Williamson's right where Mike Smith said they would
be.


We hit Mineral Springs campground about 6:30 PM and scouted the area for an
hour, but no luck. Then we tried Swauk campground and found the Williamson's
right away; the nest tree is directly across the creek at a point only about 25
feet or so down the trail. Poking out of the nest hole just above a bracket
fungus was the gaping maw of a sapsucker chick. Soon a male Williamson's
landed and fed it. Mom and dad returned at intervals of 5 - 10 min with food
for the chick(s?). Apropos the age of the chick, it would seem to be fairly
advanced, as the head is completely feathered in black and white, looking very
much like the adult male, with the exception that the chick has a white chin
patch. Judging from head size, the chick seemed to be at least 2/3 the size of
the adults.


We returned to Mineral Springs at 8:30 to search again for Black-backed. At
about 9 PM we were surveying the trees from the trail where it climbs the ridge
on the south edge of the clearing across the creek from campsite 2 when a
woodpecker whooshed in and landed with a *pwik* call on the far side of a large
pine less than 20 feet from us. Sure enough, it was a female Black-backed.
She ascended the trunk with exaggerated pull-up movements, bringing her feet up
seemingly past her head, then lunging up the tree. After a minute or so the
bird flew north past the place where the trail crosses the creek and we lost
it. There are some snags in this area, but we did not locate a nest.


David Wright
dwright at u.washington.edu


On Sunday, 19 Jun 94, Michael Smith <whimbrel at u.washington.edu> wrote:
>Earlier this month someone posted a note about wanting a reliable spot

>for Black-backed Woodpeckers. I think I may have one that's not too hard

>to get to. The spot is at the Mineral Springs campground, T21N R17E,

>S27, Kittitas Co., right off US 97 north of Cle Elum and Ellensburg.

[etc.]