It's okay to play favorites, isn't it? I love the Acorn Woodpeckers that share the Mendonoma Coast with us. They are beautifully marked, have a unique call and have great swooping flights as they come to our feeder. They particularly love sunflower seeds. Their main food source, though, is acorns and there are many Tan Oaks on our property.
Siegfried Matull photographed a male Acorn Woodpecker and has kindly allowed me to share his photo with you here. You can tell it's a male because there is no black between the white and red on its forehead.
Below is a photo I took of our bird feeder. I entitled it, "Are you done yet?" These are two females. Note the black in-between the white and red on their foreheads.
Acorn Woodpeckers work hard to store acorns in a granary tree. Here are two such trees on my neighbor's property. There are hundreds of holes in these trees. I was only able to photograph the top 1/3rd of the tall tree so you'll just have to imagine how big these granary trees are. Each hole will have an acorn stuffed in it in the fall. They will have to defend their food from raiding Jays.
It would have been a hardship for our Acorn Woodpeckers if my neighbor had taken these dead trees down. Thank goodness she didn't! They are serving a higher purpose.
