Our local paper had this picture of an acorn woodpecker:
Photo by Greg Noeninckx
We know about acorn woodpeckers because four years ago one started making holes in the insulation around the insulated water pipes for the solar heating panels on the roof.
I wrote a post about it, which included this information:
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 SquirrelsThey are beautiful and fascinating creatures:
October 22, 2020
fascinating! we don’t have them here. at least in all the years I’ve never seen one. a great video! thanks Monk.
🙂
Wow, this is just amazing! We are birdwatchers, and have never heard of this bird. He is strange and beautiful. And look at those big feet!
We were excited to read about it when we looked it up. Especially because we had seen a telephone pole covered in holes stuffed with nuts over 55 years ago. It made an impression on us because we were sure all that work would be wasted when the telephone company cut down the pole. We didn’t understand how the holes got there, but we thought a squirrel had done the stuffing. Mystery solved after over 50 years!
wow…I wonder what the tree looks like after they eaten all the “stores” … here is a tree had that many holes, it would be ready for a tree feller!
Apparently the birds will refill them with more acorns.
I remember coming upon a tree full of stashed acorns and had to research the “culprit”…so fascinating.
We saw a telephone pole stuffed with acorns over 50 years ago. We were curious at the time, now we know.
I’ve never heard of one. It’s a very pretty bird. That’s really quite fascinating.
They are amazing. Who would have guessed?
I think this beautiful bird might deserve wow and wow again! I’ve never seen one never heard of one never heard of a granary tree and never seen The Greenery tree and now I have. It’s pretty amazing that they do this and I love in the videos of the wing spread that shows how beautiful this bird is. All I can say though is I am glad we don’t have them here because the other woodpeckers drive me crazy when they get in the tree in the backyard and won’t stop pecking and can you imagine a tree where all of them come and Peck and Peck and Peck oh my
Yes, I imagine that would be a major nuisance. Some friends once had woodpeckers attacking the siding on their house. I can’t remember how my friends dealt with them.
I love woodpeckers and back when I had bird feeders I have four-five varieties coming. I never knew they stored nuts and acorns in trees like that! Fascinating. Why on earth would they drill in man-made material when they have access to so many trees in your area? That would not be fun to deal with.
Almost all of our trees are dead…burned in the fire. But who knows, maybe he decided the insulated pipes weren’t the best location.
Wow. I never heard of them. Not only are they pretty, but darn clever. 🙂
Yes, just amazing.
We have heard woodpeckers in our neighborhood, but we don’t think they are like these. Beautiful birds.
Yes, beautiful and unusual.
Wow, it’s beautiful. Sorry about the damage one did 4 years ago.
Andy plugged up the holes and the woodpecker didn’t make any more.
Oh, wow, the things one learns blogging! I had never heard of them. So interesting.
Isn’t the internet great? We searched for a woodpecker like the one Andy saw and that’s how we learned about them.