“We saw a pair of Chestnut-cheeked Starlings (Agropsar philippensis) using a woodpecker’s hole (most likely a Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major) as nesting site; male shown in the image (below).
“Kotaka and Matsuoka who studied secondary users of Great Spotted Woodpecker nest cavities in Hokkaido state that of five avian secondary cavity users, the ‘Tree Sparrows and Chestnut-cheeked Starlings were the dominant cavity breeding species’ especially in urban forests – see: Nobuhiko Kotaka, Shigeru Matsuoka. Secondary users of Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) nest cavities in urban and suburban forests in Sapporo City, northern Japan. Ornithological Science, 2002, 1(2):117-122].
“Of interest is an observation by Stuart Price in Hokkaido in June 2008 that showed a female Chestnut-cheeked Starling appearing to rear/feed a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker – see: HERE
Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
10th June 2019
Location: Nemuro Peninsula, East Hokkaido,