Those Flying Clowns

This morning I went out to the Burris Ranch in an attempt to photograph some California Valley Quail. You can see from my image for today I failed in that regard. The quail didn't make an appearance. I'm glad that the Acorn Woodpeckers chose to take their place instead because they are a cool bird. Some people call them clown woodpeckers because their face is so strikingly marked it resembles a clown face. I can always hear them several minutes before they come to the feeders. I can hear them calling from the oaks behind the pasture calling "wheka, wheka,wheka!"getting closer and closer. When they finally land on one of the posts near the feeder they will call out Dadadadadarrrrrent! They are such a gregarious social bird living in colonies within a territory. If you find one there is almost bound to be others nearby. They store up acorns and other seed in central locations for the winter within there own territory. Many times they will choose an oak tree and turn it into an acorn tree with hundreds to thousands of acorns pushed into acorn sized holes that they have hammered into the sides of the tree.They are a really fun bird to watch. God's tender blessings to all, chris