CALIFORNIA WOODPECKER 213 



woodpecker was seen by us east of about the western edge of the yellow pine 

 belt (Transition life-zone). * * * 



Situations where individuals of this woodpecker were observed are as follows : 

 top of sycamore; dead sycamore stub; in Cottonwood; about clumps of fruiting 

 mistletoe; at tips of twigs of large valley oak; in black oak; in blue oak; on 

 dead upper limb of living blue oak; in orchard tree; on isolated digger pine; 

 in large yellow pine ; at top of dead incense cedar ; on ground at roadside ; on 

 fence post ; on barn end ; on telephone pole. 



Courtship. — I first became acquainted with this handsome wood- 

 pecker in the Arroyo Seco, on the outskirts of Pasadena, during the 

 winter and spring of 1929, where I often saw these birds busy with 

 their courtship activities in the tops of the tall sycamores. They were 

 flying about among the treetops, making a lot of noise, two males 

 sometimes chasing a female and showing off their brilliant colors, the 

 white spaces in their wings and the white rumps being especially 

 conspicuous; doubtless the red crown and yellow throat, set off by 

 black and white, played an important part in the display. They 

 reminded me of flickers, as they danced on, or dodged around, the 

 branches in playful, showy antics. 



Nesting. — Bendire (1895) writes: 



In the more southern portions of its range nidification commences sometimes as 

 early as April, and somewhat later farther north. The nesting sites are mostly 

 excavated in white-oak trees, both living and dead, but preferably one of the 

 former is selected in which the core of the tree is decayed. It also nests 

 occasionally in sycamores, cottonwoods, and large willow trees, and more rarely 

 in telegraph poles. Both sexes assist in the excavation of the nesting site, as 

 well as in incubation. The entrance hole is about 1% inches in diameter, pei*- 

 fectly circular, and is sometimes chiseled through 2 or 3 inches of solid wood 

 before the softer and decayed core is reached. The inner cavity is gradually 

 enlarged as it descends, and varies from 8 to 24 inches in depth, usually being 

 from 4 to 5 inches in diameter at the bottom, where a quantity of fine chips 

 are allowed to remain, on which the eggs are deposited. 



Milton P, Skinner writes to me : "On May 12, 1933, I found a nest 

 in the main trunk of an almost dead black oak. The opening, 25 feet 

 above the ground, seemed very small and was placed on the southeast 

 side of the tree. 



"In the Yosemite Valley, these birds nest in the trunks and large 

 limbs of the Kellogg oaks, and their abandoned holes may be used by 

 pygmy owls another year. As a rule, the California woodpeckers 

 and the pygmy owls show little antagonism tow<ird each other. In 

 spite of this usual custom of nesting in the oaks, most of the birds 

 I saw in the Yosemite were actuall}' in the cottonwoods along the 

 river. After some searching, I found at least one nest there in a 

 short, dead stub of a cottonwood, on July 24, 1933. I saw one bird 

 fly down and feed another that was inside, and then fly away. The 

 hole was about 12 feet above the ground and on the north side of the 

 stub, facing the river and away from the meadow behind it. All the 



