Subject: [Tweeters] Sapsucker Drumming Competition
Date: Mar 18 21:45:45 2010
From: Craig Kerns - troublebound at gmail.com


This morning I heard a red-breasted sapsucker drumming on the
telephone pole out in front of our house. Over the years it's been a
very popular spot with flickers, downy, hairy, and pileated
woodpeckers (as well as sapsuckers) to make some noise.

When I looked out the window to watch I saw two sapsuckers on opposite
sides of the top of the pole. They would alternate between periods of
quiet and then one would break the silence and begin drumming and the
other would immediately join in. During the silent periods they would
try to sneak peeks around the pole at each other. This went on for
about ten minutes and ended with an aerial battle that started high in
the air and ended up on the ground. The fight broke off and both birds
flew off in different directions.

About five minutes later one of them returned for a short drumming
session. I'm not sure if it was a celebration of victory or just him
trying to get the last word in.

You can see a picture of them on the pole in the New Photos section of
my web site:

http://troublebound.smugmug.com/Birds/New-Photos

Craig Kerns
Lake Forest Park, WA
http://troublebound.smugmug.com
--
Craig Kerns
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard, grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em!"