Notes from the Hastings Natural History Reservation

This chapter details the author's field notes from the Hastings Natural History Reservation. The author was particularly interested in studying acorn woodpeckers and their nest cavities. Acorn woodpeckers fascinate scientists because they live in groups, often with multiple breeding males and females, and nonbreeding helpers. The breeders share mates readily, and females lay eggs in a common nest, which is always a cavity nest. Moreover, they are quite vocal, even for woodpeckers; some would call them “articulate.” At Hastings, ornithologists annotate their field notes in “bird time” rather than “people time.” This is because birds do not transition to daylight saving time the way people do. The chapter then discusses the “ambush,” which is a capture technique developed at Hastings.