Large Sets of Eggs of the California Woodpecker
Large Sets of Eqgs of the California Woodpecker
On May 4, 1916, I collected a set of ten eggs of the California Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus bairdi) from a drilled cavity in a pole carrying electric wires. The cavity was about two feet in depth and about six inches in diameter, and was about fifteen feet from the ground. The eggs were all about half incubated and were all of the same type, so I think they were all laid by one bird. The nest was visited a week later, May 11, and there was nothing in it. On May 29 I was much surprised to find the nest full of newly hatched young. I removed the empty shells of nine eggs, but did not remove any young, so I am not certain as to how many there were in the second laying. The same day I collected a set of seven eggs of the same species from another pole, two poles down the line. There were two runts in this set, smaller than Chipping Sparrow eggs.
Sidney B. Peyton
Sespe, California, March 24, 1917
