Holly Wants to Play - UPDATE March 2, 2016
Pileated woodpecker (male)
Pileated woodpecker (male)
In this 2-minute video captured by a Lily Fan, Holly wants to play and wasn?t about to take no for an answer. She keeps poking and stroking Lucky who ignores some of the touches but tells her ?No, leave me alone? when she is more insistent. He says it by moving his head quickly toward her as if to bite. Knowing he won?t hurt her, she persists. Finally, at the end, it looks like she gives up and leaves Lucky alone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqozzMN8-JgA short time later, though, Lucky got into enthusiastic play with her for an extended period (7-8 minutes). Holly seemed delighted. Then Lucky said it was time to rest. Eight minutes of play is a long time for a 9-year-old. He became less responsive and then snuggled into his bed to rest. Three-year-old Holly tried to engage him, but he would barely respond. Finally, she gave up again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK1J168gO1QA Lily Fan asked how we would define their relationship. It?s like we see between males, or sometimes a male and a female, when bears pair up or form small groups to hang out and play-fight when competition for food is not an issue. I don?t know where they get their energy, probably because they were well fed and went into the den at good weights, but food is not an issue in winter, and we are seeing Holly and Lucky having fun like they do in summer, except that Lucky needs some time-outs to rest. I?d say they were close friends, like they have been since Holly was a yearling in 2014.
Downy woodpecker (female)
Downy woodpecker (female)
When I?ve gone into pens with captive adolescent bears that wanted to play, I felt their play bites, some harder than others but none that would break the skin. Unlike cubs, these were bears old enough to know how to control their bites?just like Holly and Lucky do.
A Lily Fan asked if we planned to spay Holly. We don?t see any reason to do that because Lucky is castrated. If by some miracle, she would get together with Ted and have cubs, we?d have to accommodate them and possibly expand the enclosure and build an elevated walkway through it while making sure there are no more cubs. We don?t know where the money for that would come from, but we don?t think Ted will mate with Holly any more than he has with Honey all these years (which is not at all).
Out the window, the new piece of suet was popular today. I was in another room when I heard some taps and went quickly to the window to see if it was a delivery. The male pileated woodpecker (totally red crest and a red mustache stripe) saw me hurry toward the window but didn?t flinch. He was accustomed to seeing people behind the glass. I moved more slowly for the female (no red on the head) downy woodpecker (black dots on the white outer tail feathers and a smaller bill than a hairy woodpecker) that immediately landed when the pileated finally flew off.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
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Topic: Jewel and her cubs (Read 2367480 times)