I didn't see this particular incident but my husband did, and it's just so weird I had to share it.

The power pole in front of our house has a new hole dug out by a pair of flickers who were quickly usurped by a pair of starlings. Over the past few weeks the flickers have refused to give up completely, and a flicker is often seen perched at the hole peering in for long periods, or a flicker will be seen flying from pole to tree with a starling on its tail or vice versa. Sometimes the two pairs make a noisy commotion.

But what happened yesterday takes the cake. Both pairs were fussing around at the pole, one starling in the nest and everyone else outside, when one of the flickers entered the hole far enough so that only his or her tail stuck out. Horrible pained noises like my husband had never heard before ensued and went on a long time.

The commotion attracted a hummingbird, who buzzed up all curious, and zoomed about the pole. Then three crows showed up and landed on various wires attached to the poles. At least one had a stick in its mouth and had evidently interrupted its own construction work to check out events. Everybody seemed very tense and keyed up, including the spectators.

Then everyone took off and the starling stuck its head out of the hole. And probably squealed repulsively, but I'm just guessing there. All four visible competitors are still alive, I have no idea about any chicks or eggs that might have been in the nest.

The end.

P.S. our amazing flock of western tanagers is gone but we were thrilled to see least 3 Empidonax flycatchers sallying about in the black locusts behind our house friday (I'm not hazarding a guess which kind), and yesterday we had a singing male black-headed grosbeak. Hoping for cedar waxwings.

Alyssa Sampson
alyssasampson at attbi.com
Maple Leaf
Seattle
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