In article , Malcolm Ogilvie
writes

In article , K
writes

: In article , K
: writes
:
: "Malcolm Ogilvie" wrote in message
: ...
: :
: There's a dead tree in the road almost opposite my house and a Great Spot
: has been making a hole. It was there for about 6 days and then
disappeared,
: so we thought it had abandoned it but it was seen again one day last
week.
: It seems a topsy turvy time for nest building.
:
: Ah, but it isn't, or only indirectly. Woodpeckers roost in holes in the
: wintertime and need to excavate some extra ones when there aren't enough
: natural or existing nest holes to go round. Some autumn-bored holes may
: be used as nest holes the following summer but many will only be used in
: winter.

I'm in SW London where we have 3500 or so ring necked parakeets and it is
thought that they take over to the nesting holes of other birds, so perhaps
this could be another reason for it happening. We are now regularly getting
up to 6 RNPs on our bird feeders.

They certainly are competing for nesting holes and, unlike the
woodpeckers, can't make their own.

Quick follow up to my own post as it got away from me before I had
finished!

They can and do enlarge existing holes, but don't seem to excavate their
own from scratch.

--
Malcolm Ogilvie