Thursday, June 9, 2011

acorn woodpecker ~ 06/09/11 ~ Pinnacles

female acorn woodpecker
Melanerpes formicivorus

We had a good laugh at how a couple birds were using the drinking fountain to get water. This acorn woodpecker chased the smaller songbirds away.

3 comments:

Jennifer said...

The acorn woodpeckers are the exotic ones of the neighborhood, and are pretty high up in the pecking order as well. They even have seniority over the blue jays! There are lots of baby woodpeckers around right now. Since spotting the parents inside a nest I am now noticing woodpecker nests everywhere.

Anonymous said...

Cooperative colonial nesters, maintainers of complex larders... these are among my favorite birds to just sit and watch; fortunately our community college is home to quite a large, established colony.

Katie (Nature ID) said...

Bossy, brainy birds seems to be my theme lately. The young scrub jays are no longer visiting me. I'm sad about it, especially after I just stocked up on peanuts. What I thought was the mom protecting her young was really her chasing them away so she could have the peanuts all to herself.

Jennifer, you'll have to show me those nests. I hope your neighbors don't decide to cut down that dead tree.

Janet, I'm starting to appreciate how interesting bird behavior is, especially how they store and hide food.