Andy and I both have a vivid picture of a telephone pole we saw over 50 years ago. It was riddled with holes, each one neatly filled with an acorn. We felt sorry for the squirrel that we thought had built up a bank account for rainy days, because we knew the telephone company would replace the pole with something sturdier.
As it turns out, it was most likely not a squirrel but an acorn woodpecker.
An Honorary Squirrel: The Acorn Woodpecker
The acorn woodpecker is a bird of the American southwest that has a very squirrel-like habit of storing acorns. In fact, this medium-sized woodpecker is so compulsive about stashing its nuts that it makes the eastern gray squirrel look like a slacker in comparison!
That’s right. Each autumn, a family group of acorn woodpeckers may store as many as 50,000 acorns in a single tree, called a granary tree, with each acorn placed carefully in an individual hole drilled for that nut.
—The News for Squirrels
Why our sudden interest in acorn woodpeckers? Because of these holes in the insulation for the pipes for Andy’s solar heating project.
Andy has seen the woodpecker, but no acorns yet. He’s hoping to fill the holes and protect the insulation with metal before more damage is done.
oh no!!!
you would think the silver might have tipped off the little guy.
he was probably thinking “what a fancy tree! i’ll have the best granary in the forest!” lol.
nature is amazing. and I love learning new things. like the acorn woodpecker’s habits! thanks.
I had never heard of them either. I had wondered why the woodpecker had made so many holes in the telephone pole years ago, but I never dreamed that it had stored the acorns.
I loved the article about honorary squirrels. 🙂
Some of these problems are rural ones not to be found in urban areas. My father had similar problems when he ran his farm in a village. We have never had any such problems as we have always lived in cities.
Andy does have his hands full up there. 🙂
Your work is never done, it seems. Those holes are dismaying, and I hope they can be repaired simply and easily!
I have never heard of such a bird – of course I had had heard of a woodpecker but not one who acts like a squirrel.
Neither of these animals are in here in New Zealand – I don’t even think they are in zoos – I know the pesky squirrel isn’t…
Omg. who would have thought that?!