Acorn Woodpecker

In nature, never say never. Just because we haven’t seen something doesn’t mean it cannot occur.

Case in point: an Acorn Woodpecker visit to our birdbath.

During the first visit observed and filmed by Bob, this Acorn Woodpecker landed, perched, plumbed the depth of the water, and promptly took a bath.

Click here to watch the video.

In our two years in the highlands of Pacific Palisades, we’ve had loads of juncos visit the birdbaths, and they have apparently taught the finches how to bathe with aplomb. It appears that these avian friends have also influenced the resident woodpecker family to enjoy cool refreshment and bathing!

Regal with crimson caps and white foreheads, these agile climbers use their tails as levers while they hop up the trunk of the neighborhood Mexican fan palm which is several stories tall. 

There are several Coastal Live Oak trees nearby (seen below and left of the fan palm in this picture), giving them easy access to acorns. However, these birds eat more than their name suggests.

Cornell University’s All About Birds site summarizes their diet this way:  “Despite their association with acorns, Acorn Woodpeckers prefer to catch flying insects when those are available. They hunt for ants, beetles, and other insects by flying out from high perches. They may hunt insects at any time of year, often storing them in cracks or crevices. Besides nuts and insects, Acorn Woodpeckers also eat fruit, sap, oak catkins, and flower nectar, along with occasional grass seeds, lizards, and even eggs of their own species. In the spring they gather in groups to suck sap from small, shallow holes in tree bark, often using the same sets of sap holes for several years.”

In the United States, Acorn Woodpeckers are found along the western verge of California and Oregon, and in Arizona and New Mexico.