Subject: Woodpecker ID
Date: Apr 17 13:46:12 2000
From: Robert Sundstrom - ixoreus at home.com


Nick and Tweeters,
I am always hesitant to attempt second-hand identifications of bird
sounds, but I believe Nick is indeed describing a sapsucker. In addition to
the so-called meow or "meer" call, Red-breasted Sapsuckers make a repeated
cry, often three or four quick repetitions. Williamson's Sapsucker does
something very similar, and in my experience uses this kind of call much
more often.

Regards, Bob Sundstrom
ixoreus at home.com


----- Original Message -----
From: <NJPharris at aol.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, April 17, 2000 9:38 AM
Subject: Woodpecker ID


> As I left the house yesterday morning, I heard a bird call that I could
best describe as three short screams (they sounded like human screams) in a
row. I looked up into a tree and saw a dark lump that I figured was
probably a starling being funny, but then it flew over to a telephone pole
and revealed itself very clearly to be a woodpecker of some sort.
>
> Unfortunately, it was severly backlit, so that I couldn't make out any
details of the plumage, just the outline. It was smaller than a robin, so I
figured it was probably a Downy. When I got home I looked up the Downy and
determined that the three-scream call I heard was all wrong.
>
> Red-breasted Sapsuckers are reported to sometimes meow like cats. Maybe
that's what it was. Has anyone else heard this three-scream call from a
small woodpecker?
>
> Nick Pharris
> Olympia, WA
> NJPharris at aol.com