Acorn Woodpecker

Noisy, sociable, and strikingly marked, Acorn Woodpeckers have a remarkable habit: They hoard acorns. Males and females look similar. They are boldly patterned with black and white and sporting a bright red cap (more red on the males). The birds live in family groups year round.

On the Menu
Acorn Woodpeckers eat insects (which they catch in midair), tree sap, and other foods. And of course, they also rely heavily on acorns, which they store in holes or crevices in trees, telephone poles, and other wooden structures. These storage areas, or granaries, as scientists call them, help the woodpeckers survive during the winter when other foods are less plentiful.

Home Sweet Home
Acorn Woodpeckers are at home in open woods with plenty of oak trees in parts of the interior U.S. Southwest, California, and western Oregon, and they range south through Mexico and Central America to northern South America. They’re even happy in suburban areas, as long as there are enough oak trees.

How Am I Doing?
Acorn Woodpeckers are doing well, at least in the United States. Their populations are stable or slightly increasing. We don’t have good population information for Latin America, but they are doing well wherever the oak trees are doing well.

Help from Audubon
Audubon’s Important Bird Areas program and support for the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act help keep healthy bird populations healthy.

Fun Fact
Acorn Woodpeckers have a cooperative breeding system in which several males breed with one or two females, and young birds assist older birds with nest duties.