News blast! Two acorn woodpeckers stored 700 pounds of acorns in a Glen Ellen vacation rental! Wowza! The woodpeckers had been drilling holes and storing acorns in the side of the house. A nice pantry wall. When the owners put up vinyl siding the woodpeckers couldn’t penetrate, the birds drilled a hole in the chimney instead. I guess they just kept pushing acorns into their treasury without thinking about how they would get them out.
Acorn Woodpeckers have a life span of 4 – 11 years. I’m thinking the shorter life span is probably due to enraged and armed homeowners who hear a woodpecker drilling holes in their shake roof, wood siding and eaves. Ratta-tat-tat! Like a high-powered, high-pitched miniature jackhammer. A hammer head with a tight spring for a neck. We had woodpeckers drilling holes in two oaks and the eaves of our previous home. Grrrrr.
Woodpeckers have a varied diet; tasty insects, delicious long-drippy yellow oak blossoms, yummy tree sap. Acorns are bitter and low in protein, but they are good for a winter feast when the other goodies aren’t available. Acorn woodpeckers drill those holes bark-deep and tight enough to keep thieving Stellar’s and western scrub jays from taking their supplies. Squirrels and chipmunks can’t extract the acorns either. I used to “visit” a woodpecker family that had drilled a penthouse in a telephone pole and made the rest of the pole their pantry. The little redheads would squawk at me – undoubtedly telling me to keep my fingers away from their acorns.
But, oh, my goodness, how many lifetimes would it take for two woodpeckers to eat seven hundred pounds of acorns? They put all that work into collecting them and then couldn’t access their account. And so, rather than putting their treasure where it could be used, they just kept tucking more away, pound after pound, filling in 25 feet of that chimney!
What a lot of work for nothing!
Some people do that — work hard and accumulate a portfolio of investments, or buy a bigger house, name brand clothes, a fancy game system/computer, more luxurious car. Sometimes they use their acorns for collateral , and then accumulate debt. (Our government is good at that.) Woodpeckers have a good work ethic. So do most people. But consider what and why you’re hanging onto it all. It’s good to work hard, enjoy life, tuck away savings for the future – as long as we remember to be thankful and give a portion of what God has given us to others in need.