James West wrote:

"The seven birds grazing on the Orcas Island roadside with
eight Robins were Hairy Woodpeckers. The two relatives grazing further
down the road without any other company were Pileated Woodpeckers. I
couldn't figure out what they were all eating so intently that day. I
poked around in the forest litter on the roadside - it contained a variety
of tree seeds, a lot of ants (recent big hatching?), and some
caterpillars, but short of disemboweling a woodpecker I couldn't tell
even whether they were eating vegetable or animal matter."


Well, James, I would never have guessed (that's why I didn't try), but I
might be able to reduce your puzzlement. We prepare a lot of birds here,
and we often look in their stomachs. One of the most common things we find
in woodpecker stomachs is.....drum roll for suspense......ANTS. I always
knew flickers were ant specialists, but I had no idea they were such
important food for woodpeckers in general.

I've got a hummingbird feeder on a sapling in the back yard, and a stream
of little ants comes up from the base of it to sample the "nectar." On
occasion, probably every day, a Downy Woodpecker lands on the <1" diameter
trunk and slurps up those ants as they move past it one by one. An
ecosystem in a yard!

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