California Hummingbirds and Woodpeckers

Hummingbirds rarely stay put. They flap their wings 70 times per second, and scout around like maniacs. But once in a while, they do sit down and rest. I caught a few of these moment's in San Joaquin wetlands in Los Angeles. This is an Allen's Hummingbird:









This one is an Anna's Hummingbird:


Now on to woodpeckers. A unique species native to the US West is an Acorn Woodpecker:


It's unique in many ways. One of them is how it stores its food, the acorns: in self-made little holes in a thick dead tree:


His stash can get pretty big:


And even bigger:


Moreover, they stash the acorns in any nook and cranny they can find nearby, such as the cracks between these roof tiles:




One of the reasons the stash is so big is that Acorn Woodpeckers are actually a colonial bird. The colony is formed around a main pair:


This tree has several acorn woodpeckers on it. Aside from the main pair, the other birds are usually 1st and 2nd-year descendants of it, helping the family out, like all kids should.


Final shot - back to the cooperative Allen's Hummingbird from San Joaquin wetlands: