Utah Bird Profile
Acorn Woodpecker - Melanerpes formicivorus

Name roots: (E. acorn, its favorite food)  (Gr. Melos, "black"Gr. Herpes, "a creeper"; 
L. formica, "an ant",L. voro, "to devour" )

In Utah: A rare permanent resident of southern Utah.
 
Sightings in Utah
Map of Sightings
  

             by Kendall Brown

Other Photos - ID / Song

Characteristic behavior: Make nest holes and feed young as a colony.  Female lays 4 or 5 white eggs.  Known for caching acorns in trees or telephone poles.
    Nests in a snag at a height of 20-25 (6-60) feet, in a cavity nest. This species is not a cowbird host. During the breeding season, this species is a frugivore: upper-canopy gleaner; insectivore: bark gleaner.
  
Habitat: Open forest, oak and pine-oak.
Breeds in Utah in desert oak habitat.  Nests in large dead or dying  ponderosa pines.
  
How to find: ...I have observed this bird in four different places—all in southern Utah. Devil’s Canyon along Utah State Highway 191 between Monticello and Blanding in southeastern Utah has many big ponderosa pine trees with an oak understory which provides suitable habitat. One or two birds have been seen on the south slope of the Boulder Mountain in Garfield County between Grover and Boulder. There have been sightings (although not recently) in the ponderosa-oak community of Zion National Park between the town of Virgin and Kolob Reservoir... ~ Merrill Webb
  

USGS Profile  (Geological Survey)  |   US Winter Range Map   |  US Summer Range Map |    
  

Occurrence:

(See Legend)

Abbreviations  |  References  |  Legend  


Map of Sightings
  

Legend

 ● Confirmed Sightings
 
Unconfirmed Sightings

Sighting Records

(Updated Mar 2004)

 


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