Subject: Sapsuckers and Mt. Ash
Date: Jul 16 08:15:39 1998
From: Jim Rosso - jrosso at mediaseek.com


Darrel Whipple reminds me that two years ago September I sat in my
backyard and watched a Red-breasted Sapsucker take berries from a Mt. Ash
tree and store them in a cavity of another tree nearby. I have read very
little about woodpeckers caching food, and nothing about sapsuckers
caching food. I have a photo showing the Red-breasted with a berry in its
beak, but I could not get pictures of it putting the berries in the
cavity.

I was also very interested in the timing of the berry feast. The berries
were red for at least two weeks before anybody paid any attention to
them. Then all of a sudden on one day everybody appeared. Throughout the
afternoon in our Mt. Ash tree there were Swainson's Thrushs, Robins,
Cedar Waxwings, Red-breasted Sapsuckers, Black-capped Chickadees,
Steller's Jays, chipmunks, and others.

I wonder if there really was something about the berries that told
everyone that they were ready, or if there is an indicator species that
everybody else follows. So when that species starts to eat the berries
everybody else joins in. It was very strange. I kept waiting for the
birds to start eating the berries because to me they looked ready. Then
all of a sudden there was a feast and by the next day it was over.

So I would be interested if anybody else out there with a Mt. Ash or
similar tree has a similar experience.

Jim Rosso
Issaquah, Washington
jrosso at mediaseek.com
jlrosso at msn.com
(425) 392-8440