Dead Tree Full of Acorns: What's Placing Them There?

[phyzguy]

While we were hiking in California, we came upon this dead tree. The tree was full of holes, presumably made by woodpeckers, and in most of the holes something had placed an acorn. Has anyone ever seen this? What places the acorns there? Woodpeckers? Squirrels? Something else?

 

[Evo]

While we were hiking in California, we came upon this dead tree. The tree was full of holes, presumably made by woodpeckers, and in most of the holes something had placed an acorn. Has anyone ever seen this? What places the acorns there? Woodpeckers? Squirrels? Something else?
View attachment 81428

I've heard of this before, it's the acorn woodpecker. So glad you took a picture!

Acorn woodpeckers, as their name implies, depend heavily on acorns for food. In some parts of their range (e.g., California), the woodpeckers create granaries or "acorn trees" by drilling holes in dead trees, dead branches, telephone poles, and wooden buildings. The woodpeckers then collect acorns and find a hole that is just the right size for the acorn. As acorns dry out, they are moved to smaller holes and granary maintenance requires a significant amount of the bird's time. They also feed on insects, sap, and fruit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_woodpecker#Food_and_homes

 

[phyzguy]

Thanks, Evo. Now I know what did this!

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

That is a very busy woodpecker!

 

[cestma]

Not long ago the following was posted to one of my bird list-servs. Do have a look at the vid. :D

In my [a poster to the Michigan birding list-serv] industry the Acorn Woodpeckers have made a name for themselves as “microwave-path attenuators”. In this video that some of you have probably seen before, a gradual but continuous increase in “path-loss” prompted some diagnostics. All the hardware was within standards and the dishes and horns were all still within alignment limitations. The usual culprit is feed line failure and water/moisture infiltration. In this case, the attenuation of the communication signals were accomplished in an entirely different manner…​