Acorn Woodpecker

These are my favorite backyard visitors. Here's a fledgling. This was his very first day of flight and he came right down and sat on the fence.

Mama showing him the ropes.

This is the whole nest checking out the seeds, same day.

They're cautious but sure do love those peanuts.

Baby discovering the birdbath - which they took to instantly by the way. They were so silly splashing around.

I feel lucky to have these guys hanging around making their Woody Woodpecker sounds.

they are so beautiful but saw something bad about them on a nature program. If a female dies and has young that haven't fledged yet, new females will fight to take over the nest and the winner kills the babies of the previous mother and lays her own eggs. So sad!!

Their really beautiful Stell!! Great photos too! First time I've seen these, Thanks so much for posting these and keep em coming!

Oh, I love these pictures! I have never seen or heard of these before. They look so exotic to me. How wonderful to see these.

Great photos, stellapathic. Do you have any photos of trees where the Acorn Woodpecker has stored acorns ?
It's amazing to see all those small holes in a tree where they store them.

Wonderful pictures, those birds are beautiful.

What a great series Stella! How lucky you are to have these... :)

linthicum, I know I have a better shot, one with a larger portion of the tree filled with acorns. It's called their "granary tree" and they've chosen one in my backyard as their storage site. I'm in the process of organizing a "birds" folder so I can find my photos easier for posting to this awesome new forum. I could also go out and take a new one, the tree is certainly filled to the max right now. Had visitors from Sweden a couple of weeks ago and they were amazed at these cool woodpeckers.

DonnaB, was this program about woodpeckers in general? I don't see this happening around here. Seems like there's a community effort. Moms watch the nests and dads dive-bomb the squirrels trying to steal their acorns out of the tree. The squirrels sure don't take too many chances around them, I must say. Can you imagine being impaled by one of those beaks? Yikes! They must be really hard and sharp to punch holes in all that wood.

Oh that is SO amazing!!

Here's some info I found. Seems the females do destroy other eggs in a nest until all of them in the family are laying at the same time. This makes sense so that they all hatch around the same time and the girls don't have to babysit for a longer period of time. Not that this is the reason for their behavior, of course, I couldn't guess that, but sure makes nursery duties more efficient. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Melanerpes_formicivorus.html

stellapathic, thanks for posting the photo of the tree w/ an Acorn Woodpecker. That's great. I've only seen photos of them since they are a western bird, but I always found their storing of acorns very neat. Hopefully, they only store them in trees and not houses ??? I know some woodpeckers are a real nuisance to homeowners and can do a lot of damage.

I bet that is to funny watching the dads dive bomb the squirrells

Well, I learned something from that link myself. Looking back through my photos I see I should have said "papa showing babe the ropes." And the adult on the tree is a female. There's a band of black between the white face and red skullcap on the females. Didn't know that before. Cool.

Great pics Stella!

Geez, Can you imagine how this forum will be hopping when the Spring comes and we'll all be outside taking pics on trips and such. Can't wait!

Great photos Stella!

Pelle, Imagine all the pics showing 'baby birds' in the summer!

Marilyn

Luv'd all of these pics, stellapathic ..

Such a beautiful (and interesting) woodpecker!!

How long have you been feeding them the p'nuts on the fence rail? Looks like it's 2nd nature to them .. (hee)

- Magpye

Great pictures Stella. My favorite is: Mama showing him the ropes!!

Cuckoo

Outstanding photos, Stella - I've also never seen an Acorn Woodpecker before . . . seeing the entire little family was delightful!!! Post more photos when you can!

Cuckoo, if you read the link I found today, you'll see that it was Papa showing Her the ropes! Learn something new every day. Magpye, they know the sound of the peanut bag and start doing their Woody Woodpecker sound when they hear it. I have no idea where that "du du du dat du, du du du dat du, du du du du du.......originated, and the rhythm seems to be changed a bit, but these guys for sure have that sound when they're excited. And they're actually really shy around newcomers. I'm always excited to introduce visitors to the resident woodpeckers and they are nowhere to be found, even with peanuts out there, until they check out the new folks. I need to get out there and take a shot of the granary tree. There was a good harvest from the oaks and it's really full. Which, of course, tempts the squirrels and creates mayhem when they try to steal them. Never a dull moment.

Stella: I've really enjoyed being able to see your pics of such a beautiful woodpecker. Thanks for sharing them!
DebinSC

Stell !! The acorns family is just delightful to view. You are soooooo lucky . The baby its just sweet with those dark eyes. Did they end up with only one baby???

Great pics. Thank You for sharing.

birdscrazy, if you look at the third picture you'll see three of the four babies. One took a couple more days to fledge.....there's always one slow learner isn't there? I took a shot yesterday of the tree with some fresh acorns in there.....

They have lots of tree to fill up.....

O my gosh !! ya, ...NOW I SEE ...lol :) Thanks Stell

The baby woodpeckers are so sweet and adorable! All the Acorn Woodpeckers are beautiful birds.

Thanks for sharing Stella!

Marilyn

Love looking up the trunk of the tree - super photo!!

oh that is to cute

Thats really incredible! Thanks for posting these Stella!

What type of tree is that stella?

Here pelletory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monterey_Pine The largest stand of Monterey Pine in the world is here in Cambria.

Thanks stella!

Thanks Stella. I was wondering what kind of tree that was.

I too was wondering what kind of tree takes all that drilling or pecking!

Cuckoo

I am just waiting for the day where I can photograph my neighborhood's acorn woodpecker clan in the way you have. I really apreciate their lively calls, their bold appearance and their collective nature.