While we were staying at the resort, Crystal Paradise in Belize last year, Steve and I were in the outdoor dining area chatting with some of the other birders staying at the resort when all of a sudden we heard screeching nearby. The kind of screeching that would make your ears bleed.  When birders hear sounds like that everyone grabs their binoculars and/or cameras and walks–no, RUNS–toward the mayhem.

The screeching came from a pair of White-fronted Parrots that were fighting a female Pale-billed Woodpecker over a nest. Clearly, the woodpecker excavated this nest hole, but the parrots wanted it. I suppose the rule of possession is nine-tenths of the law also applies in Belize. And even for birds.

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So, in the end the parrots won. Poor woodpecker.  I sure hope she found another home. (Here’s a photo so you can get a close up by clicking on it.)

Stand off at Crystal Paradise.