Acorn Woodpecker by photosynthesis
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Description
This fellow & a few of his cohorts regularly hang out in this spot on the oak tree that sits less than 10 feet from the bird feeder on our deck. They watch the smaller birds feeding & then every once in a while let out a cackle & swoop in to feed themselves, chasing the others away. This was taken through the sliding glass door that looks out on the bird feeder, as there is no spot outside that I can get a decent photo from without scaring the birds away. They have beautiful white markings on their black feathers that are visible when they're flying, but so far I've been unsuccessful at capturing that...
Acorn woodpeckers are so named because acorns are a large part of their diet (obviously). They peck holes in trees & stuff them with acorns. I've read that as the acorns dry & shrink, they peck new smaller holes for them & move them.
They have a loud & very distinctive cackle. According to Wikipedia, "Walter Lantz is believed to have patterned the call of his cartoon character Woody Woodpecker on that of the acorn woodpecker".
Comments (10)
Fidelity2
Totally cool. Thank you so much. 5+!
whaleman
Wow, never even heard of this one! Great shot!
roguetographer
Wonderful photo and great info accompanying it. Thanks!
West_coaster07
Nice capture!!
alanwilliams
wonderful picture of this colourful character
ladylake
Wow, so pretty. Great shot.
NightGallery
What a great looking pecker. Nice catch!
morningglory
So neat the way they hide their acorns. Nice shot.
bmac62
A most handsome woodpecker. I went through an extensive "bird phase" in 2009. I agree with you 100%...very difficult to photograph these little guys. I wound up setting bird seed and water in large flat dishes and placing them on the railings of my deck so that I could photograph them through my kitchen window. Amazingly, I could see them 10-12 feet away and because of reflections, they could not see me. It was a true kitchen bird blind. Here was my setup".
thecytron
Xcellent capture!