Hi Kristi and Tweeters,
This definitely does not sound like courtship. I have seen lots of sapsucker
courtship and never anything like this. There are plenty of incidences of
sapsuckers chasing each other from territory, and I would presume this falls
into that category. It's still a good note to put into your WFO journal for
the record.
Steve Shunk

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Stephen Shunk
East Cascades Bird Conservancy
"Birders with a Purpose"
Sisters, OR

541-549-8826 (home)
541-408-1753 (cell)

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> From: tweeters-request at mailman1.u.washington.edu
> Reply-To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 12:00:10 -0800
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Tweeters Digest, Vol 5, Issue 25
>
> Since male and female look the same, it was impossible to tell whether this
> was courtship or combat. We've seen hawks in similar encounters, but never a
> Picidae species. I couldn't find anything specific on this in the Birder's
> Handbook or Sibley's Bird Life and Behavior. Can anyone shed more light on
> this Sapsucker behavior?