>Burt Guttman writes:
>> A few minutes ago, as I left the Evergreen campus, I was astonished to
>> see a Pileated Woodpecker doing what, to me, is a very unwoodpeckerlike
>> thing to do. It was moving around in the branches of a small tree (which
>> I can't identify immediately), just like a passerine, and eating the
>> berries. I've never seen this before. However, Bent notes that
>> etc.

There is nothing that unusual about woodpeckers eating fruit; I have seen
both Melanerpes and Campephilus woodpeckers doing so in Costa Rica (on
Stenodemmia, if I have the name right). Skutch notes in "The life of the
Woodpecker" (p. 21):

"Soft fruits, arillate seeds, nuts, acorns and grains enter prominently into
the diets of many woodpeckers. Vegetable matter accounts for about 40% of
the food even of the ant-eating Yellow-shafted Flicker. While my feeder was
in a tree beside the house, Golden-naped and Red-crowned Woodpeckers came
frequently to eat bananas, and sometimes brought their young."
--
Ronald I. Orenstein Phone: (905) 820-7886 (home)
International Wildlife Coalition Fax/Modem: (905) 569-0116 (home)
Home: 1825 Shady Creek Court Messages: (416) 368-4661
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