Hi Bill,

What you were observing was actually an aggressive display/territorial
dispute. I have observed this in Hairy and White-headed Woodpeckers and
Northern Flickers. The females are not displaying to the male, but one
female is actually trying to displace and drive off the intruder female.
Also, these seem to sex specific. The male will not try to drive off an
intruding female, only an intruding male. Same thing with females only
driving off females. The attempt to drive off an intruding bird always
consists of these postures you described and rarely if ever result in direct
contact fights. Sometimes these interactions can go on for over 30 minutes
until the intruder gives up and is driven away.

Jeff Kozma
Yakima

jcr underscore 5105 at charter dot net.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Clemons" <willclemons at yahoo.com>
To: "Tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2008 9:51 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Ridgefield NWR: Amazing DOWNY WP Courtship Display!!


My mom (Olive) and I birded the River "S" Unit at Ridgefield NWR (~4mi W of
I-5 at Exit 14 in SW Washington; http://www.fws.gov/ridgefieldrefuges/ ).

Highlights:
Bird of the Day goes to DOWNY WOODPECKER. Why? You may ask.

DOWNY WOODPECKER: This afternoon while I walked part of the Kiwa Trail with
2 birders down from Tacoma (Sue and Al ? I think, sorry if I'm wrong on
names). In addition to BITTERN and RAIL w/babies, we saw:
3 DOWNY WOODPECKERS involved in a "courtship display." Beautiful! Wonderful!
Fantastic! This was a display I had never seen before. Sue first spotted
them. What we thought to be a pair, turned out to be 2 females putting on
an Amazing show for a seemingly nonchalant male a few trees away. The
females would arch their backs, crane their necks, fan their tails, and hop
around a given tree trunk or limb together. It was as if the females were
locked in some "Tango-like" dance trying to out do each other. If one
female moved to another tree, the other followed and lit next to the first
or opposite her on a trunk. Sometimes they were above and below a branch,
often next to each other. Occasionally, one would lie down on a branch but
crane up her neck. It seemed as though we watched this continue for 3-5
minutes. It was not Mannequins, but close. It was more like these gals
were acting out the song "Anything You Can Do" from the musical Annie Get
Your Gun.

Bill Clemons
SW of Portland in Mtn Park
Willclemons AT Yahoo dot com

Birding:
The best excuse for getting outdoors
And avoiding chores

Complete list of 68 species seen / heard:

Pied-billed Grebe
American Bittern (3 seen on Kiwa, others heard)
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
BLUE-WINGED TEAL (4 drakes 1 hen, 3 sites)
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
REDHEAD (pairs: 1 on canal adjacent to S Quigley, 1 on Rest lake)
Ring-necked Duck
Ruddy Duck (still displaying on Rest Lake)
Bald Eagle (4 seen)
Red-tailed Hawk (4 seen)
American Kestrel (excellent view of male on post eating rodent)
VIRGINIA RAIL (1 adult w/2 babies on Kiwa near hairpin turn )
Sora (heard only)
American Coot (4 babies seen - S Quigley Lake)
Killdeer
Wilson's Snipe (lots seen and heard)
CASPIAN TERN (flying over Kiwa Trail)
Mourning Dove
GREAT HORNED OWL (adult with juvenile - Ash woodland after Kiwa)
Vaux's Swift
Belted Kingfisher
Red-breasted Sapsucker (3 seen near R/R area, 1 in nest)
DOWNY WOODPECKER (1m & 2f fantastic display)
HAIRY WOODPECKER (Ash woodland on Kiwa Trail)
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (2 recently fledged babies)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (entrance canyon)
White-breasted Nuthatch (several places)
Brown Creeper (entrance canyon)
Bewick's Wren (several places)
House Wren (lots)
Marsh Wren (lots)
Swainson's Thrush (heard and seen)
American Robin
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing (lots)
YELLOW WARBLER (heard several, saw 1)
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER (1f on staying ground on Kiwa)
Common Yellowthroat (lots)
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Black-headed Grosbeak (several)
Red-winged Blackbird
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD (still good numbers + heard babies)
Brown-headed Cowbird
BULLOCK'S ORIOLE (several seen - R/R area)
House Finch
American Goldfinch





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