The acorn is an important food source in the western U.S. wherever the oak tree thrives. Here in southwestern Oregon the Steller’s Jay, Scrub-Jay, Lewis’s and Acorn Woodpecker are among birds that collect and hide acorns. So do, of course, our various species of squirrel. One animal may hide an acorn while another comes along hoping to pilfer the acorn. Only the Acorn Woodpecker colonies manufacture their own storage units, by driling numerous single-acorn sized holes in the bark of evergreens or in dead oak branches. Otherwise the gathering and caching of acorns is a crucial acitivty for some species. Not every year produces the kind of acorn over-supply we have this winter, acorns littering the ground in oak savannah and mixed forests. Thus careful and safe hiding of acorns is an importnat acitivity for the acorn-lovers. A good hole may be hard to find. Here are two birds checking out possible acron storage units.
Don’t forget telephone/electrical poles as Acorn Woodpecker granaries.
By: Frank Lang on January 23, 2013
at 9:50 am