BOOTHBAY REGISTER • November 11, 2026
We humans like to think that we are unique in doing things like storing food for an unpredictable future. It’s humbling to realize that many other creatures do it, too. In general, birds have to be non-migratory residents to make food storing (caching) a strategy that can payoff. But not all resident birds store food. Crows, ravens, and jays all store food. So do chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches. Some woodpeckers do; the acorn woodpecker from the western U.S. is so named for its habit of storing loads of acorns in drilled holes in trees. But here in Maine the only regularly occurring woodpecker species that routinely stores food is the red-bellied woodpecker. ~ Jeffrey V. Wells and Allison Childs Wells