Acorn Woodpeckers fighting for dominance

I had an amazing experience this morning. I went out Yolo CR 29 along Chickahominy Slough. I was at the end of CR 29 Taking scenery pictures, and then behind me all a sudden there was quite a racket.


I turned around and saw at least a dozen and probably more than two dozen male Acorn Woodpeckers attacking each other in the big oak tree.  I started taking pictures. A pickup came down road and U-turned right under the tree; it didn’t bother the birds so I moved closer. The mailman came and delivered to the mail box under the tree and it didn’t faze the birds, so I moved right under the tree. They were so interested in each other; they paid no attention to me. The ‘fight’ went on for 37 minutes from when they started making noise until it was quiet. I took 281 pictures.

Here is some information on what I saw from Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA jmorlan (at) ccsf.edu http://www.hastingsreserve.org/Resident%20Web%20Pages/Koenig%20Web%20Pages/AWIntroPoster/AWposter.html

I’m not much for video, but this was one case I wish I had a video camera.

Click on the pictures to make them larger.