While we were in Hart Park we saw plenty of woodpeckers. Most common were Acorn Woodpeckers, which have been a favorite of ours for years because they mean that we're in the Davis Mountains of Texas or Southeastern Arizona. Now we can add California to the list.
Acorn Woodpeckers are known for creating community caches of food by drilling holes in trees, poles, and buildings and storing acorns there. We were lucky to see an Acorn Woodpecker actually placing an acorn into a cache!
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| I've got this excellent acorn... |
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| I need to find the right hole. |
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| In it goes! |
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| Perfect |
There were also plenty of Northern Flickers.
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| Northern Flicker |
These are the "Red-shafted" variety, which means that their feathers have red shafts. The more eastern birds are "Yellow-shafted".
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| Northern (Red-shafted) Flicker |
We also saw the most western sapsucker, the Red-breasted Sapsucker.
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| Red-breasted Sapsucker |
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| Red-breasted Sapsucker |
Hart Park turned out to have a couple of pretty nice disc golf courses, and a lot of great birds!
Mark
We've seen the stored acorns before but didn't know who or what was responsible. Now we know!
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures and very educational post.
ReplyDeleteThanks you two.