Burt Guttman wrote:

>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.

In Central America, one of the best places to find _Melanerpes_ woodpeckers
(Golden-fronted, Black-cheeked, Red-crowned, and their relatives) is at
fruiting trees. In Tobago, I saw Red-crowned Woodpeckers visiting fruit at
feeders just as often as tanagers and thrushes did. But I agree with Burt
that, in this area, seeing a woodpecker at a fruiting tree is unexpected.
Of course, fruit is a much more important food for birds in general in the
tropics than in the temperates.

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