One case where the Starling seems clearly guilty (but that's what we
thought about OJ too) is in evicting Purple Martin's from their nest
boxes, at least that seems to be what happened at the north end of Lake
Sammamish.

Gene Hunn.

On Wed, 4 Oct 1995, Dennis Paulson wrote:

> >So, in my own personal experience I'm familiar with areas where
> >Lewis' woodpeckers and starlings co-exist at least to some degree,
> >yet the Oak Island area I speak of ain't one of them. Any ideas
> >on the dynamics?
> >
> >Fill me in, Dennis (or anyone else)...
> >
> >- Don Baccus
>
> Truly, I think we still have a lot to learn. Several studies of
> woodpeckers vs. starlings have engendered different conclusions. There are
> differences between species responses, and there may be differences even
> within species in different areas or habitats, in terms of how much effect
> starlings have on them. So much speculation, so few studies.....
>
> When I was writing some stuff on starlings, I couldn't find anything about
> their effect on Lewis' woodpeckers, although there are papers discussing
> their effect on flickers (Howell, A. B. 1943. Starlings and woodpeckers.
> Auk 60: 90-91) and acorn woodpeckers (Troetschler, T. G. 1976. Acorn
> woodpecker breeding strategy as affected by starling nest-hole competition.
> Condor 78: 151-165).
>
> A quite interesting paper in this context: Ingold, D. J. 1989. Nesting
> phenology and competition for nest sites among red-headed and red-bellied
> woodpeckers and European starlings. Auk 106: 209-217. In it he relates
> that red-bellieds and starlings compete substantially because they initiate
> nesting at the same time, while red-headeds nest later and for the most
> part avoid starling competition. Starlings usurped 52% of red-bellied nest
> holes and 7% of red-headed nest holes during this study, in Mississippi.
>
> I wonder about our woodpecker nest-initiation dates vis-a-vis starlings.
> Bear in mind also that a woodpecker, having had its nest cavity taken over,
> can go drill another one if it can find an appropriate tree, and they are
> known to do just that. Cavity nesters that don't make their own holes,
> such as bluebirds, can't.
>
> Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
> Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
> University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
> Tacoma, WA 98416
>
>
>