Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) Female

Cascade Mountains - Jackson County - Oregon - USA

 

Habitat : Open Woodlands

Food : Insects

Nesting : Cavity

Behavior : Bark Forager

Conservation : Low Concern

 

"Acorn Woodpeckers are medium-sized woodpeckers with straight, spike-like bills and stiff, wedge-shaped tails used for support as the birds cling to tree trunks..... Acorn Woodpeckers are very unusual woodpeckers that live in large groups, hoard acorns, and breed cooperatively. Group members gather acorns by the hundreds and wedge them into holes they’ve made in a tree trunk or telephone pole. Acorn Woodpeckers also spend considerable time catching insects on the wing. They give raucous, scratchy waka-waka calls frequently... In groups with more than one breeding female, the females put their eggs into a single nest cavity. 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. Once all the females start to lay, they stop removing eggs."

- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology

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