Retro Post....... Trip to Julian... Day 1

Monthly Bird Counts of the San Elijo Lagoon has been posted for the month of October 2014 and the Acorn Woodpecker is one of the birds that was spotted on the day of the count! This is very exciting news and to celebrate... I am posting a "retro post" of Trip to Julian... day 1 which featured these adorable looking Woodpeckers. 

E-mailed on May 07, 2014

I have been wanting to go camping in Julian for a few years and finally I decided it was time to go check out "roughing it" in my old 21' toy hauler trailer. (LOL... Believe me when I say that because the water pipes busted, it flooded the camper and I had no water in the camper the whole time... I had to haul the water in from the faucet outside). I had heard from my birding friend that the birding is great there. Time for me to go and see for myself.

Woke up at 4:30 am so I decided to get up and get ready to go birding. The morning was bright and crisp. By the time I got coffee and microwaved my breakfast, the whole area was coming alive with chirping birds. Here is my first bird subjects in Julian.

A pair of Acorn Woodpeckers. The male is poking his head out of the nest hole and the female is perched on the right side of the hole probably waiting for him to finish building the nest. As I looked around the Campgrounds... I noticed the place was "Acorn Woodpecker heaven"!  There were several in every tree... nest holes everywhere!!  I would say there were thousands of them.

Close-up shot of the male Acorn Woodpecker peeking out of his nest.

I was told by the staff that the view from the east side of the Campground was spectacular,

so I decided to hike up to the hilltop to check it out.

Since I was camped near the California Wolf Center, I followed and hiked the easement road to the top arriving at the gate of the reserve. Looking southeast from the high point of the hill, I see the fencing and a watchtower of the wolf reserve and luck is on my side this morning, I can see a wolf checking out the perimeter on the enclosure...

Hiking another 500 feet north east... I get a view of mountains and probably Borrego Springs, but the haze is making this photo not very clear. That below is not a lake, just fog/mist/haze...

Coming back towards my campsite... I see a male Acorn Woodpecker perched near-by. They really are everywhere!

Approaching a huge pine tree... a female Acorn Woodpecker lands directly in front of me... full frame! You can tell a female Acorn Woodpecker from the black marking that extends all the way across the forehead from the side of the face and neck.

She appears to be searching for something...

Aaahhhhh... the "perfect" acorn for a snack!

These Acorn Woodpeckers are adorable with cute clown-like markings, who could resist this cutie?  Acorn Woodpeckers "Melanerpes formicivorus" are 9" long with a wingspan of 17.5 inches... found mostly on the west coast /western states of the US and western mainland of Mexico.

 

This photo shows the back of the females head, a good view of the red cap on her crown stopping at the black markings on her forehead...

Every tree in the camping Ranch is covered with acorns... even all the pine trees... of course the whole campsite and the whole surrounding area is full of big Acorn trees. Acorn Woodpeckers use their beaks to make holes to store acorns for later use. This behavior is called "caching"... They will use barks of live Oaks, Sycamores, Pines and even telephone poles. I have read in the Sibley Guide to bird life and behavior that "as many as 50,000 acorns have been cached in a single tree" !

Near my campsite facing south, there are thousands of acres of open wild land surrounded by hills with a strip of private pasture that butted up against the Wolf Reserve easement road... with lots of trees and bushes within. I saw at least 5 horses grazing in the pasture. It sure added to the tranquil country atmosphere of this location. 

Beautiful animal...

Western Bluebirds were always around checking on everything around my campsite... I must be camping in its territory.

Everywhere you looked you would see an Acorn Woodpecker... and this male is busy excavating a new nest. They peck and peck, pulling out the wood pulp and soon there is a big hollow hole for a nice nest...

A male in another tree peeks out as he tests the "fit and comfort" of his nest... In this close-up photo you can easily see the red cap on a male Acorn Woodpecker extends all the way forward to the white markings between his eyes.

lol... the Bluebird is still watching my every move.

There are so many Jackrabbits around it was amazing... they are huge and twice as big as my little dog!

Sun is starting to go down behind the hills and the bluebird is still around...

He goes up on the high phone wires and watches the sunset...

  

It's been a quite exciting "first day" of birding. I can't wait for the morning to check out the west end of the camping grounds... but for now I have to haul water into the camper... thank God for microwaves! I will need to call my friend Lois's husband Bob to get instructions on how to get everything working, like my stove and refrigerator!  Now the wind has picked up and it's getting cold... forty at night, eighties in the day...