This is bird note.

A large dark woodpecker clings to the side of a tree.

Its face is almost clown-like, boldly patterned in black and cream with a red crown.

And it's holding something in its bill.

Iing the tree with care, the woodpecker wedges the object into a shallow hole.

A closer look reveals thousands of these small pockets in the bark,

most neatly set with acorns.

We're watching an acorn woodpecker.

A bird found in parts of the western U.S.

And it chips out these little recesses to fit the acorns it'll harvest throughout the fall.

A family of acorn woodpeckers may use this storage tree or granary for generations.

Some of them hold as many as 50,000 acorns,

which the woodpeckers rely on when insect prey and other foods are hard to come by.

But if trees with thick barker and short supply,

utility poles, fence posts, or the sides of barns will serve the same purpose.

So does the acorn woodpecker just kick back and munch acorns all winter?

Not a chance.

Because in the weeks after a fresh acorn is lodged in a hole, it dries and shrinks.

Meaning acorn woodpeckers spend much of the winter shuttling them from one hole to another,

finding just the right fit.

Today's show brought to you by the Bobbling Foundation.

For Bird Note, I'm Mary McCann.

...