You know Woody Woodpecker, that cartoon character with a raucous laugh? Animator Walter Lantz based his adorable bird on the Acorn Woodpecker which he discovered while in honeymooning in California. Never-mind that Lantz’s Woody looks more like a Pileated Woodpecker. That endearing laugh is unmistakably California.

Acorn Woodpeckers are the voice of the oak woodland foothills of the Sierra Nevada where I live. They are year around residents. If you spend any time outdoors, you can’t miss hearing their calls throughout the day, and perhaps the pecking sound they make under the eaves of your house.

In spite of the name, Acorn Woodpeckers feed primarily on insects. During winter months, when insects are less prevalent, they rely upon communal acorn granaries that clan members have assiduously stocked throughout the year. The utility poles in our community have hundreds, no, thousands of holes drilled into them for this purpose. As the acorns dry out and shrink, Acorn Woodpeckers move those acorns to more secure holes to prevent theft by other critters. When we bought our house, we discovered that the uncovered roof vent pipes were filled with acorns. A friend’s sailboat mast was filled to the top with acorns, too.

The Acorn Woodpecker is a gregarious bird, performing aerial acrobatics as it flies openly from tree to tree, utility pole to utility pole.

Pause a moment, look closely at its lovely clown face, and try not to smile.  

An Acorn Woodpecker moment I will always cherish occurred one summer evening as I was seated outside on the patio, watching the day’s glow fade over the hills to the west. There was a pair of woodpeckers in the backyard oak trees, murmuring softly to each other, quietly, sweetly, over and over as darkness overtook the light.

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