a flock of woodpecker?

Have you ever seen a woodpecker flock?

There were at least five (maybe six) woodpeckers all working the same grove of dead and dying trees this morning: two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, two Downies and one or two Hairy Woodpeckers. They were definitely aware of each other, sometimes even chasing each other around as if to assert their claims on the best infected woodpecker wood. Somewhere back in the woods, a Flicker was calling but neither Flickers nor Red-bellied Woodpeckers seem to have any inclination to join in with the others.

There was probably no diminution from the past two days in the number of birds around on this warm Indian Summer morning but instead of being spread out all along the ecotone between the woods and the marsh, they had mostly melted back into the shrubs and woods. I had two Brown Creeper sightings -- two birds or one mobile bird in two different places -- plus Yellow-rumped Warblers everywhere and a good scattering of both kinglets, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned (at least one showing its ruby crown). A small vireo with a distinctly dark cap and wide, white eyestripe (but no dark eyeline) was a Warbling (not a Red-eyed) Vireo, a first of the season.

I complained yesterday about our lack of a good open area for sparrows but there was a franzy of sparrows at the far edge of our far right-of-way -- an open grassy strip of driveway bordered by a dense area of shrubs and forbs. The sparrows were working the edge of this and even dropping down into the open area affording some good looks. And, sure enough, there were some immature White-crowned Sparrows along with White-throated, Swamp, Song, Chipping and Field. Curiously enough, I went back to this spot perhaps 20" or half an hour later and it was completely dead!

Eric Salzman