hello tweets,

a male flicker was standing on my neighbor's "chimney" -- an aluminum
pipe with an 8-inch (or so) diameter. he was alternating between his
loud "clear!" calls and drumming very rapidly on the pipe. a female
was standing quite close, watching this punk rock courtship. finally,
the sounds of love were interrupted by a crow that flew up to the
flicker's perch, chasing him away so the crow could inspect the pipe.
the female flicker lingered for a few minutes before she, too, flew
away.

regards,

Deborah Wisti-Peterson, PhD Candidate nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
Love the creator? Then protect the creation.