Vanessa

The three day war. I observed this Red-bellied woodpecker and Downy woodpecker claim ownership of a dead tree branch cavity, which they had both worked on at different times of the day. The dead tree was in our back yard, so I was able to witness and photograph the squabble in different light situations. The Downy woodpecker would attack the Red-bellied with continual angry vocalizations and incessant swooping at him. Neither bird won because three days later, the cavity had been so overworked by the two of them, that the walls were too thin and the branch crashed to the ground.