Bird · GBIF taxon 2478133
Acorn Woodpecker
Melanerpes formicivorusAlso known as California Woodpecker
Acorn Woodpeckers live in highly social family groups that cooperatively defend territories and construct massive communal granaries by drilling thousands of individual holes into dead trees to store acorns. These clown-faced birds maintain a complex breeding system where multiple co-breeders share nests and raise young together. Their loud, laughing calls echo through oak woodlands, where they also fly out to catch insects mid-air and sip sap from drilled wells.
SocialArborealLoud
- diet
- Acorns, insects, sap, fruit, and seeds
- family
- Picidae
- threats
- Habitat loss, oak decline, and competition for nest cavities
- life Span
- Up to 15 to 17 years in the wild
LC
Safe to observe at a normal distance.
- Listen for calls: Listen for their loud, laughing waka-waka call to locate active family groups.
- Locate granaries: Look for dead trees or telephone poles riddled with thousands of neatly drilled holes.
- Keep your distance: Avoid approaching active nesting or storage trees too closely to prevent disturbing the group.