Acorn Woodpeckers along the Tuolumne River

If they took up residence in my yard, I would probably not like them as much. But they haven't, and so the Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) remains one of my favorite sights when I walk the Tuolumne River Parkway Trail on most mornings. They are capable of doing a lot of damage to the eaves of a house, and they can be loud and raucous, but their clown-like faces and silly antics can be endearing.

The individuals that I've seen most often lately have been at war with European Starlings over nest cavities in an old dead cottonwood tree towards the west end of the Parkway Trail. I can't tell who's winning, but a number of times I've seen the woodpeckers hard at work producing a cavity while the Starlings watch and wait to take it over. There is a lot of flying, yelling and shuffling around. I've not posted pictures because my observation point is kind of distant, so pictures are so-so.

This morning I walked a bit further and took a careful look at some of the huge oak trees just east of the water treatment plant, and I heard the familiar calls of the woodpeckers, and one climbed out on a branch right in front of me and posed for awhile. I was honored to take a couple of portraits. I didn't see so many Starlings in the vicinity.

The shot below is typical of the woodpeckers at the west end war zone. The heavily zoomed photos are sometimes okay, but they don't convey much of the personality of the individual birds.