EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

What Acorn Woodpeckers Do

Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus), Family Picidae
Pine tree granarie
San Bernadino Mountains, Southern California, USA

Explanation:  Here's what Acorn Woodpeckers do!  

They collect massive numbers of acorns from oak trees.  Then they deposit them in "granaries" ... usually softwood trees such as pines, in which they have drilled massive numbers of tiny cavities in which to stash their acorn prize, saving them for later. 

The acorns are squeezed into their tiny homes so that other animals cannot extract them.  
  

           
Acorn woodpeckers range through southwest U.S., through mountains of Mexico into Central America.
  

  
  
Acorn Woodpeckers are highly social birds, and often occur in groups, chattering away like they are all laughing and having fun:

They are known to use power poles and telephone poles as nest sites, hammering  cavities into the tough dried wood ... sometimes causing failure of the structures and causing power companies having to replace the poles ... perhaps a small price to pay for helping conserve this most unique species.