Out & About San Diego — #7: San Diego: A bird-lover’s paradise
#7
San Diego: A bird-lover’s paradise
San Diego County lays claim to a bird-lover’s paradise because there have been more species of birds seen in the County than in any other county in the nation. The current tally is 505 different species of birds being seen here.
Early this morning my assistant, Eric Cooper, and I took advantage of that claim to go out with the San Diego Beginning Birders meetup group. We met at 8:00 at Hernandez Hideway at 19320 Lake Drive in Escondio, right on the shores of Lake Hodges.
There are many parking lots on the shore side of Lake Drive, and we chose one of them to park everyone’s cars, about 20 cars for about 30 people. Overlooking the parking lot were lots of eucalyptus trees and oak trees, and in the trees were about a dozen acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus). Here are two of them:
According to the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, acorn woodpeckers are very sociable and usually found in small, noisy colonies. They eat mainly acorns and use a granary tree to store food. A granary tree is a tree with dozens, maybe hundreds, of holes pecked into the trunk, and each hole is filled with acorns. It looks like this:
Acorn woodpeckers use the same granary tree year after year, so if you want to see a lot of woodpeckers, now you know where to go!
Pictures taken by Russel Ray using a Canon 550D.
Posted on February 12, 2012, in Fauna, Mother & Father Nature, Out & About, Photos, Series and tagged acorn, acorn woodpecker, birders, escondido, eucalyptus, hernandez hideaway, oak, San Diego, woodpecker. Bookmark the permalink. 7 Comments.
That is amazing. I am learning so much. Thanks for the education. I love birds, but we don’t get this kind of woodpecker here in Southern Ontario.
Hey, Maggie – I learn a lot from doing these posts. I figure if I don’t know something, there’s probably at least one other among these seven billion people on Earth who also doesn’t know but is interested.
What wonderful photos! I did not know about acorn woodpeckers. Amazing!
That granary tree is amazing. I never heard of that, let alone seen it. Thank you for sharing it.
Hey, Kathryn. I had never heard of a granary tree, either. There’s a lot to be said with going out in a group with people who know what to look for and, when they find it, to point it out to you.
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