I got home the other day to find that a sparrowhawk had killed and eaten a woodpecker right outside the back door. The remains were pretty mangled (I've spared you the gory bits) so I couldn't even tell whether the victim was male or female. I also don't know whether it was one of the pair trying to set up home in the garden. There are several woodpeckers that visit the feeders every day and I can't tell which is which.
The other thing I've seen is that the second hole excavated by "my" woodpecker is now occupied by a starling. It is pretty hard to tell which bird is in which hole at the moment as things have mostly gone quiet, with the ownership battles having been settled, but it seems as though here isn't now a resident woodpecker here.
The first woodpecker hole was taken over by a pair of starlings but they also seem to have moved on. It is now the property of a tree sparrow but I think he has left it too late. I feel really sorry for him as he sits outside the hole calling for a mate all day. He has ended up in possession of prime real estate but all the females are already spoken for.
At one stage he did entice a female in for a quick look around.
For whatever reason things didn't work out for them and he was back to calling all day. He's still at it.
It is not all doom and gloom. A blackcap and a chiffchaff have started singing in the garden in the past week and I have had several interesting visitors to the feeders.
No comments:
Post a Comment