Acorn Woodpeckers

While Dale was photographing these acorn woodpeckers, I got to watch and sketch. The colony of woodpeckers has been using this granary tree for several years, so the holes are ready and waiting. A few new ones are dug each year and eventually the tree will become so rotten, the woodpeckers will have to move on to another. Meanwhile most of the acorn are tucked into individual holes, always the pointed end first. The birds were also dropping them into the large cavity. Because of a couple large cracks we could see a lot were already stored in there. ... and sometimes the birds shelled the acorn and stored each half in a crack.

This is as far as I got sketching on location. Later I finished it using the photos on my laptop for reference.

For more about the woodpeckers go to www.elvafieldnotes.blogspot.com