NATURAL ENRICHMENT FOR ACORN WOODPECKER UPDATE
NATURAL ENRICHMENT FOR ACORN WOODPECKER PATCH

Was still present at 8:00 AM when we departed.” Click to see Photo.įebruary 5, 2023: Intermittent rain events have kept the mudflats at Lake Elberta flooded and no eBird observations were reported between January 29 and February 4. “Foraging on exposed mudflats on the west side of lake (north side of peninsula) when we arrived at 7:20 AM. Or he may have started his return migration.įebruary 8, 2023: Reported on eBird for the morning, just before 8:00 AM, at Lake Elberta Park.įebruary 6, 2023: Reported on eBird for the morning, seen at Lake Elberta Park. Here's hoping that they will eventually find the other platforms appealing and put them to good use!įebruary 16, 2023: Ongoing episodes of rain have kept the mudflats at both Lake Elberta Park and the Mills Street pond flooded, which may have compelled the wagtail to forage elsewhere. The Ospreys arrived back from migration the second week of February and have been VERY puzzled by the change at the tower and are doing their best to start a nest (see photo below). In response, City staff installed two alternative nesting platforms, one next to the tower, which remains, and another a short distance away. Over the winter, Sue brought the matter to the attention of the City, which owns the site. They had been using a cell tower (seen in the background of this photo) and when it was decommissioned the structure the birds built on was removed. Kudos to AAS member Sue Hansen and the City of Tallahassee! Sue has been strongly advocating for a pair of Ospreys who lost their long-standing nest site over the winter while they were away on migration.

NATURAL ENRICHMENT FOR ACORN WOODPECKER UPDATE

Banner photo by Edward Munoz/Audubon Photography Awards.Ĭlick for the latest Nest-building Update s Stable, apart from some local declines resulting from degradation of oak woodlands.Watch this space for updates on the re-nesting attempts by a Tallahassee Osprey pair whose favorite nest site was removed over the winter of 2022-2023. Vagrant: found rarely or casually, primarily in fall and winter, away from woodland habitats along the immediate Pacific coast and in western deserts accidental north to British Columbia and east to the Great Plains states from North Dakota south to coastal Texas. Isolated breeding populations are found on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, California on the central Edwards Plateau, Texas and possibly in far southern Colorado. Most abundant where several species of oaks co-occur. Year-round: oak woodlands and mixed oak-conifer or oak-riparian woodlands. Drum: a simple, slow roll of about 10–20 beats.Ĭommon. Also, a scratchy, drawn-out krrrrit or krrrit-kut, and a high, cawing urrrk. Call: loud wack-a, wack-a or ja-cob, ja-cob series. The acorn is noisy and conspicuous in communal groups, with raucous “Woody Woodpecker” calls.

NATURAL ENRICHMENT FOR ACORN WOODPECKER PATCH

White-headed woodpecker has similar white wing patch and black back, but lacks white rump and belly Lewis’s lacks white areas in plumage. Unmistakable given its group-living habits and loud calls. There is considerable additional variation in the remaining range south to Colombia, with 5 additional subspecies.

Pacific coast birds, bairdi, have slightly longer and stouter bills than nominate birds of the interior West. Juvenile: resembles adult but black areas are duller and the iris is dark juveniles of both sexes have a solid red crown like that of the adult male. The adult female is similar, but the white forehead is separated from the red crown by a black band. Adult male has white forehead meeting the red crown. The head pattern is striking, with a ring of black around the base of the bill, a red crown patch, a white forecrown narrowly connected to the yellow-tinged white throat, and black sides of the head setting off a staring white eye. Length 9'.Ī boldly patterned black-and-white woodpecker with a white patch at the base of the primaries, a white rump, black chest, streaked black lower breast, and white belly. Acorn woodpeckers also feed by sallying for flying insects and gleaning trunks, and they often eat ants (as reflected in the species’ scientific name). These groups maintain and protect impressive granaries in which thousands of acorns are stored in holes drilled in tree trunks or utility poles for future consumption in a study a single tree contained more than 50,000 acorn-storage holes. This conspicuous clown-faced woodpecker of western oak woodlands is remarkable for its social habits, living over much of its range in communal groups of up to 4 or more breeding males and as many as 3 breeding females.

Natural enrichment for acorn woodpecker