[cobirds] Acorn Woodpecker - Cheyenne Mountain S.P. (El Paso)

COBirders,

 

An eBird report by Joseph Knoll included his sighting of an Acorn Woodpecker (a review species) in the new Cheyenne Mountain State Park (fee) just west of Fort Carson on Hwy 115 south of Colorado Springs and in the shadow of NORAD and Cheyenne Mountain. He saw the bird just past the footbridge west of the parking area and bathroom on the beginning of the south portion of the Zook Loop (1.03 mi) around 0900.  I found a female Acorn Woodpecker closer to the restroom in large Gambel’s oaks around 1:00 P.M.  She was mostly silent and I watched her forage mainly on the larger limbs and generally in cover of the oak leaves while she searched in the bark crevices for food.  A photograph of this woodpecker may be seen at the Colorado Field Ornithologists Facebook group site.

 

Bill Maynard

Colorado Springs