Acron Woodpecker

(Melanerpes formicivorus)

Acorn woodpeckers often create granaries by drilling holes in dead trees, dead branches, telephone poles, and wooden buildings. These natural food stores are part of a continuous process of moving acorns around as they shrink and dry out; this maintenance is constant for the woodpeckers. A group has to be on watch and defend the granary against thieving species like the Steller’s jay and Scrub jay.

Information from the All About Birds website, www.allaboutbirds.org, © Cornell Lab of Ornithology.