Hairy Woodpeckers galore

I can go outside any time of the day and walk to any place on the property and I will hear Hairy Woodpeckers working away on the traces of Sandy. I could guess that there are at least 5 or 6 different birds working in different areas but it is difficult to be sure. They much prefer the pines, dead or alive; the clues to their presence are  a steady tap-tap-tap with punctuation in the form of sharp single-note calls and lots of flying bark. They are often accompanied by Downy Woodpeckers who provide nothing quite so dramatic and often take the thinner branches or even hanging vines as their objective. Downies are the regular local black-and-white carpenter bird; the arrival of the Hairies this summer -- due no doubt to the large amount of woodpecker wood created by recent hurricanes -- has been the new feature.

Regular nightly visits from the Screech Owl but few daytime migrants of any sort. I get the impression that the change in weather moved more birds out than in (one lone Red-eyed Vireo was an exception).

With regard to the question of whether birds can be fooled into thinking there are raptors around when there are none, I've had several reactions. Jean Held suggests that the angry Chickadees might have been upset about a difficult-to-find snake rather than an easier-to-locate perched Screech Owl. She also suggests that the birds might indulge in such exercises as a way of training a new generation about how to deal with danger! Carl Safina suggests that someone (me? the crows?) might be fooled by Blue Jays imitating the call of a Red-tailed Hawk or some other raptor. On the other hand, there are certainly raptors already on the move; I've already seen Red-tailed Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, at least one falcon (probably a Merlin) and Osprey on the move. All potential targets for angry crows and jays.

Eric Salzman