Acorn woodpecker habitat11/28/2023 ![]() Other birds stash food for the winter, of course. The granary tree is easier to defend (and one acorn woodpecker is posted as a sentry against marauding ground squirrels and other woodpeckers). Photo © ALAN SCHMIERER / Flickr in the Public Domain Storing them on the ground would make them accessible to deer, rodents, turkeys and other acorn eaters. If they were stockpiled together, they could be prone to getting mold or otherwise becoming inedible. Why do the woodpeckers do this? It is an effective strategy for surviving cold weather without the need for migration. As the acorn dries, it might loosen, so the acorn woodpeckers are constantly tending the tree, moving acorns around to appropriate-sized holes. It then tamps it down – tap, tap, tap – with its beak to ensure a snug fit. The acorn woodpecker plucks an acorn and sticks it in the tree hole. A single granary tree, according to the Cornell Lab, can contain an astonishing 50,000 acorns and other nuts. These woodpeckers store acorns on a scale worthy of one of those cable hoarding reality television shows. A family unit uses one tree to drill with thousands of holes, which they then fill with acorns. The acorn woodpecker drills into trees to create storage holes. When you think of woodpecker behavior, chances are you picture a woodpecker drilling into a tree to access larvae or other invertebrates. All the activity happens around a most interesting tree and the territory surrounding it. Photo © The Nature Conservancy (Lisa Feldkamp)Īcorn woodpeckers are indeed the most social of North American woodpeckers they’re organized in family groups of up to twelve individuals (more on this relationship in a bit). Acorn woodpeckers at the Santa Rita Lodge. But look closer and there’s a whole lot going on. Acorn woodpeckers are entirely predictable and easily findable in their range. They were looking for Southwest specialties and rarities. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, my trusted source for all things woodpecker, describes them aptly as “a troupe of wide-eyed clowns.”Īdmittedly, other birders at Santa Rita Lodge seemed hardly to notice. With acorn woodpeckers, it’s like a riot of sound, color and flight acrobatics. They’re always enjoyable birds to watch, but you often don’t see any of them. Or perhaps a hairy woodpecker will show up at the backyard feeder. I’ll be out snowshoeing and see a pileated woodpecker hammering away at a dead tree. And mostly, you are seeing a solitary individual or perhaps a pair. I’ve long enjoyed observing woodpeckers on my outdoor rambles. At least this is what I first noticed when I saw them around Santa Rita Lodge, located in the birding hotspot of Arizona’s Madera Canyon. If you see one, you’ll probably soon see more. The first thing you’re likely to notice about acorn woodpeckers is that they’re in a flock. ![]() Let’s take a look at the fascinating life history of these colorful, charismatic birds. A lot of its behavior may even seem completely at odds with what you know about “typical” woodpecker behavior. Once all the females start to lay, they stop removing eggs.The acorn woodpecker displays some of the most interesting and complex feeding and social behavior among birds. A female usually destroys any eggs in the nest before she starts to lay, and more than one third of all eggs laid in joint nests are destroyed. In groups with more than one breeding female, the females put their eggs into a single nest cavity. If the stores are eaten, the woodpecker will move to another area, even going from Arizona to Mexico to spend the winter. In parts of its range the Acorn Woodpecker does not construct a granary tree, but instead stores acorns in natural holes and cracks in bark. Woodpeckers put 220 kg (485 lb) of acorns into a wooden water tank in Arizona. Occasionally the woodpecker will put acorns into places where it cannot get them out. The Acorn Woodpecker will use human-made structures to store acorns, drilling holes in fence posts, utility poles, buildings, and even automobile radiators. One granary tree may have up to 50,000 holes in it, each of which is filled with an acorn in autumn. Acorns typically are stored in holes drilled into a single tree, called a granary tree. Several different individuals of each sex may breed within one family, with up to seven breeding males and three breeding females in one group.Īll members of an Acorn Woodpecker group spend large amounts of time storing acorns. Family groups hold territories, and young woodpeckers stay with their parents for several years and help the parents raise more young. The Acorn Woodpecker has a very complicated social system.
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