My neighbor here in Bellevue has been observing everyday a pair of Northern
Flickers who began working on a nesting hole in a Big Leaf Maple tree in
her yard - and when she observes from the upper story of her house, she's
in direct line of sight to their hole. As she has observed closely the
unfolding story of the Flicker Pair and shared the story with me as it
developed, many times we wondered what different behaviors signified. I
hope you folks, reading this, might have some ideas. The Flicker Pair
worked diligently in March carving out their beautiful home. On April
2nd, my neighbor saw TWO males and the female at the nest hole, observing
numerous instances of the resident male chasing the interloper away, but he
kept returning. Later she heard a commotion and looked out her window to
see all 3 birds fighting. She assumed the female came out of the nest to
join the battle, and she wondered if the interloper might also be trying to
steal the nest. Does anyone have an idea about this? On April 4th,
she saw the female enter the nest - and remain there for a while. She
then came out and "purred" to the male, and then the pair mated - flew over
to the branch right in front of my neighbor's viewing window. Male then
flew away, and female entered the nest and did not come back out. Later
the male returned and did a little drilling on the house chimney stack,
went to the nest, and it appeared he was feeding the female. On April 7th
she observed that the pair mated again, and the female then worked on the
nest. My neighbor mentioned a couple of further observations of mating -
but I don't have exact dates. However, on April 24th, she was outside in
her yard for 1.5 hours, and observed the pair mate twice. Our question
here is: why does this pair continue to mate? Might the eggs the female
has laid so far be non-viable, and the flickers know this, so keep trying
for fertile eggs? Or maybe she hasn't laid any eggs at all yet? Or, do
they just enjoy mating - part of their being a strong couple that will work
hard to raise the young which (hopefully) hatch? We would love to get
your insights into this developing story!!!!

Thanks in advance for your help,

Emily Winstrom, Bellevue, Wa.
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