Lewis's Woodpecker - Melanerpes lewis

On our December trip to the Central Valley refuges we stopped by Lake Solano Park to see if the Lewis's Woodpeckers might still be there, and were not disappointed. We watched one particular bird at a granary tree. It would leave and find an acorn and bring it back to this snag. The broken top of the tree served as an anvil, on which the bird hammered to break open the acorn and extract the meat. These photos were taken over a 3-1/2 minute interval, during which time I also took a very poor quality video to try and show the activity.

Photo #1 shows the broad view of the top of the snag, with what looks like an acorn wedged in the hollow (smooth rounded bit that looks like a finger-tip). Note the green sheen of the back feathers, the impressive zygodactyl toes, and the use of the strong tail feathers to create a firm anchor to the tree. (Zygodactyl toe arrangement refers to the arrangement of the 4 toes of a bird in which the innermost toe has been rotated to point backwards, the 2 middle toes stay pointing forward, and the outermost toe backward, i.e. 2 toes forward and 2 backward, great for gripping tree bark. Seen in woodpeckers and other birds such as parrots.)

In photo #2 I think it is reaching for an acorn stashed earlier in a crevice. A shaky video was then attempted, which shows him extracting the acorn, placing it in the hollowed anvil portion of the snag, and then hammering at it to extract the mast: 

At this point I attempted a video: Lewis's Woodpecker video

Success! In Photo #3 the meat of the acorn has been extracted, after which the bird left to quickly cache the future meal in another portion of the dead tree and then back to open another acorn. The beautiful maroon color of the face is muted because of the overcast lighting.

The last, #4, shows how the the feet of the woodpecker fully released from the tree as it forcefully drove the bill downward, sort of "action and reaction" I guess.

I presume the Lewis's will remain in the Lake Solano Park area for another month or two, as those birds that elect to migrate will usually leave in late March/April, although most will not travel great distances. This year witnessed many more Lewis's Woodpecker sightings in Californnia's Bay Area than usual.