The Acorn Woodpeckers (
Melanerpes formicivorus) have been very busy this new year. There is a small colony (four or five) of them on the dead cottonwood trees near the west end of the Tuolumne Parkway Trail, and in the new year I've seen them numerous times storing away acorns. The one above had a mouthful!
If I don't see them on a given day, I almost always hear them. Their strange "waka-waka" is one of the more distinctive calls in the riparian forest.
The Acorn Woodpeckers range across the southwest and into Mexico and Central America, living in oak woodlands. They carve out cavities for their nests, but often must compete with invasive European Starlings and other bird species to maintain ownership. It gets noisy at times!
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