[Mnbird] Red-bellied Woodpecker Nesting Question

[Molly Miller]

We have Red-bellied Woodpeckers nesting on our property.  The first time I noticed them in their hole was April 19, 2019. Long story short: At least two nestlings fledged somewhere around June 5-7.

Surprise, surprise. On June 15th, the female was back inside the hole, came out, and copulated with the male. I don't know why I thought they only had one nesting per summer; I guess I think birds that large need longer to get it together. Anyway, I was wrong. On June 16th they mated again.

Between June 23rd and 30th, the male and female took turns inside the nest cavity... just as they did during the incubation of their first nesting. 

I did not check the nest again until July 9th--because there shouldn't have been much activity besides swapping places on the nest. But! At that time the male was back to hanging out near the hole, not inside. He churled, the female came to the tree, and they again mated. What the heck!

On July 15th the male was back inside the nest hole. Since then, they have religiously traded places inside the cavity, so it appears they are back to incubating eggs.

So, I'm assuming something happened to that second nesting. They are so good about always having one of them at the nest hole that it seems hard to believe something got in there and destroyed the eggs. But there wasn't enough time between the nesting #2 and nesting #3 for them to figure out that something was wrong with their eggs and that they needed to start over.

Or what happened? Anyone run into this before? Do they have enough time in the season to bring this nesting to a successful conclusion?

Thanks for any insights you may provide!

Molly Miller
Inver Grove Hts
Dakota Co