[cobirds] Acorn Woodpeckers at Pueblo Mtn Park--a male & female, likely a pair

I drove up late this afternoon to look for the Acorn Woodpeckers that Leon Bright posted about yesterday.  Dave Van Manen, the Director of the Mountain Park Environmental Center that manages Pueblo Mtn Park for the City of Pueblo that owns it, brought me over to the tree where he and his field trip members first saw one Acorn Woodpecker on Saturday.  One Acorn Woodpecker was at the top of this tall tree that as Leon noted is peppered with holes.  When I went back to get my tripod it took off but returned around 5 pm.  Not long after a second bird joined the first one on the same tree.  I watched, photo-ed and video-ed them for the next 1 1/2 hours.  During this time the male and female birds not only perched in the same tree they sometimes perched within a few feet of each other and without antagonism so I suspect they are a pair.  I watched them flycatching, usually successfully, and sometimes appearing to cache their catch in smaller holes and crevices in the tree.  I did not observe either going into any of the larger holes.  Each of them did fly off a number of times, sometimes landing in nearby trees and other times flying out of sight for a few minutes then returning.

The fact there is a male and a female and that they seem to be a pair leads to the question of breeding.  It will be most interesting as Dave Van Manen and visiting birders observe these cool birds over the next several weeks to see if they may have a nest hole, either in this or another tree. 

I posted a few photos on my Birds and Nature blog

If you plan to visit the Pueblo Mtn Park you might want to consider spending the night in their Horseshoe Lodge--they have a number of nice rooms they rent at reasonable rates.  There is nice birding in the park which has zillions (looked like it) of Tree Swallows and other birds that nest and forage there.  I saw 2 Cooper's Hawks flying around for a time.  And there is a lot of excellent habitat in the area to bird.  I stopped briefly in the town of Beulah, where the park is located, where I saw at least 4 Lewis's Woodpeckers (this has been the best area for this species in the past, but I didn't have time to drive around looking to see if there were still as many as there have been). 

SeEtta Moss
Canon City
Blogging for Birds and Blooms magazine @ http://birdsandbloomsblog.com/author/seetta-moss/
Personal blog @ BirdsAndBlooms.blogspot.com

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