The acorn woodpecker’s head, back, wings and tail are brownish-black colored, and his throat, belly, and forehead are white. This color scheme emphasizes its red cap even more.
The bird’s eyes are white and have a small patch of green feathers on the back. You might think that so many colors can be a bit too much, but they are well arranged, and they give this bird a sort of gentlemanly appearance (clownish-gentlemanly, to be exact.)
The females have a very similar color pattern, with the main difference of a black area between the forehead and the cap. The acorn woodpecker lives in the foothills of Oregon, California, and the southwestern United States, south through Central America to Colombia.
It prefers oak woods, groves, mixed forest, oak-pine canyons, foothills. In fact, you can barely see it far away from oaks.
The acorn woodpeckers got the name for a reason. It depends heavily on acorns for food.
They are so important to this bird that it even nests in the fall to take advantage of the abundant supply of its favorite food. This is very uncommon for birds.
This bird is known for its habit of hoarding acorns: it drills tiny holes in a dead snag, then harvests acorns in fall and stores them in these holes to be eaten during winter. Such a “granary tree” may be used for generations and may be riddled with up to 50,000 holes
The acorn woodpecker lives in the foothills of Oregon, California, and the southwestern United States, south through Central America to Colombia.
It prefers oak woods, groves, mixed forest, oak-pine canyons, foothills…
Acorn woodpeckers also eat insects, sap, and fruit. They can be seen sallying from tree limbs to catch insects, eating fruit and seeds, and drilling holes to drink the sap.
This occurs in two ways: coalitions and family groups. The saying “it takes a whole village to raise a child” proves true here.
Adult offspring regularly stay in their parents’ nests and help raise the generation after them. Breeding coalitions comprise up to three joint-nesting females and up to seven co-breeding males.
Most nests, however, are made up of only three males and two females. The group can have up to ten offspring helpers.
The breeding coalitions are usually closely related – the males are brothers, and the females are sisters. However, despite this fact, Inbreeding is rare – co-nesters of the opposite sex are never related.
The acorn woodpeckers got the name for a reason
It depends heavily on acorns for food.
This bird even nests in the fall to take advantage of the abundant supply of acorns
This bird is known for its habit of hoarding acorns
Acorn woodpecker’s singing resembles human laughter
Adult offspring regularly stay in their parents’ nests and help raise the generation after them.
Watch and hear them sing:
Besides having charming looks, the acorn woodpecker is also a barrel of fun. The sounds it produces can sometimes resemble human laughter.
Very often, you can even hear them say, “wake up, wake up,” or at least something that sounds like it. These birds have a stable population and are not endangered.
