A friend of mine was studying Nuthatches in Arizona
(in mid 90s), and watched squirrels wipe out several
of the nests he was monitoring. And he told me the
following:
He noticed that birds nesting in trees with Flicker
nests got predated less often. And he was watching
one day as a squirrel started climbing up a tree with
several nests in it, including a Flicker nest. As the
alarm calls sounded, the Flicker busted out of the
nest, flew around the tree, and impaled the squirrel
in the back of its head with its bill, killing it
instantly! Then it "casually" flicked the dead
squirrel off its bill and flew back to its nest!

Remind me not to mess with nesting Flickers!

I also do not recall what species of squirrels were in
his study area. But he was out in the sticks, so I
assume they were the native Red Squirrels, which are
considerably smaller than the Eastern Fox and Grays.

Great Story, though!
Guy

--- Charles Swift <charless at moscow.com> wrote:

> Someone mentioned Red Squirrels preying on nestling
> or fledgling birds and
> they have also been found to be major nest predators


=====
Guy McWethy
Renton, WA
mailto: lguy_mcw at yahoo.com



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