Birds I'm Watching: Feeder Wars and Woodpecker Blues

Woke up this morning to the sound of a pair of acorn woodpeckers banging on the gutters and then fighting with the scrub jays over access to the bird feeder. Both birds are big enough to trip the anti-squirrel device on the feeder (their weight lowers a sheath over the feeding holes), but both are smart enough to have learned to hold the holes open with one foot long enough to grab something. If I were a blues musician, I would have written something like this.

Woke up this morning, woodpeckers on my roof

Woke up this morning, woodpeckers on my roof

Never heard so loud a bangin'

Done knocked my head right off

Although a recipient of a Living Blues Award,  I'm not a blues musician, so I'll leave it at that.

Also had a big flock of bushtits at the fountain this morning--probably about thirty. I love to watch them flop around in the water, twittering all the while. Who says Twitter is new?

Birds I'm Watching: Robins Harassing Acorn Woodpeckers

On the way home from walking my son to school today--often the highlight of my day--I noticed a group of Robins chasing a couple of Acorn Woodpeckers and then harassing them in the upper reaches of an oak tree. I don't know what avian faux-pas prompted the censure, but it was odd to watch. Usually I see crows harassing hawks, high overhead, but I've never seen Robins doing much aggressive--although I suppose worms feel badly treated when pursued by Robins.

There have been many more Robins in the area this year than usual (perhaps reflecting unusually cold weather further north), and there have been more Acorn Woodpeckers than usual as well since this past autumn. The latter live in extended family groups. I've had the impression that a new group has been checking out the area around my house for its possible use as a home territory. That might be interesting. Perhaps they will start nesting here in the spring.

Next time you're in Santa Rosa, go to Paradise Ridge Winery, off of Fountaingrove Parkway. Go for the view from the deck, but don't miss the giant oak outside the front door of the tasting room. It's home to a large colony of Acorn Woodpeckers. It's not uncommon to see ten or 15 at once flitting through the branches. The trunk is riddled with holes, most stuffed with acorns.