I have seen Red-headed Woodpeckers caching acorns. At at least one location, they cached food somewhat as I have seen in videos of Acorn Woodpeckers, putting them in shallow, tiny holes in the surface of the tree trunk. This was at Presquille in fall probably a couple decades ago. so you might wonder about the accuracy of the memory. It was a pretty striking occasion with several birds flying over a parking lot to and from the acorn source to the storage trees, so I'm pretty sure that is what they were doing.
Cheers, John On 8/20/2013 7:06 PM, Anne Clark wrote: > Back in the 80's when I was living in SW Michigan (near Kellogg > Biological Station, in Delton, MI), a pair of red-headed woodpeckers > brought their fledglings every year to eat mulberries at a productive > group of trees. > > More unusual that they would take them to protein-needy nestlings > (albeit very late nestlings). But robins in the same Michigan > property fed their nestlings on mulberries. > > Anne Clark > > On Aug 20, 2013, at 6:51 PM, Paul wrote: > >> Spent about three hours watching the Red-headed Woodpeckers at May’s >> Point this morning. Very active until about 10 am. Saw an >> interesting sequence when a Merlin made a pass at the nest cavity,, >> actually several passes to which the adult RHW responded with loud >> calls and some defensive attacks. Thereafter, the pair were on >> sentry duty, one in an adjacent cavity watching south and the other >> to the north in a tree along the river. The Merlin was in the area >> for about 5 minutes. They stayed on alert for about 20 minutes longer >> before resuming activity. >> More interesting was a discovery on what they are bringing into the >> nest cavity. (Have not yet seen chicks at the opening. Has anyone?) >> While sometimes, I can see that they are bringing insects such as >> dragonflies, at other times it appeared to be round objects. Did not >> seem possible to be acorns. Now, I’ve posted some images on my blog >> (http://birds-n-blooms.blogspot.com/) which show an adult bringing >> wild grapes to the cavity. There are ripe grapes on the vines in the >> area. On my first visit (July 24), I recorded an adult picking Woody >> Nightshade berries from vines at the base of dead trees to the north >> east of the nest tree. Had not expected woodpeckers to be eating fruit. >> Paul Schmitt >> -- >> *Cayugabirds-L List Info:* >> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> >> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> >> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave >> <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> >> *Archives:* >> The Mail Archive >> <http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> >> Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> >> BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> >> *Please submit your observations to eBird >> <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>!* >> -- > > -- > *Cayugabirds-L List Info:* > Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> > Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > *Archives:* > The Mail Archive > <http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> > Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> > BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> > *Please submit your observations to eBird > <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>!* > -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
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