A red-bellied woodpecker tucks food that it plans to eat later into oak tree bark. This is a colored pencil drawing titled Buried Treasure.
A red-bellied woodpecker flew to a tree branch and landed while carrying a corn kernel in its beak. Its claws scratched the oak bark as it climbed up the branch in quick hops. After making a careful inspection, the woodpecker drummed its beak into the branch in order to slightly widen an already-existing opening in a crevice formed between pieces of bark. Using its beak first and then its long tongue, which can reach beyond an inch from the tip of its beak, the woodpecker tucked the kernel deep into the hideaway. Once the kernel was secured, the woodpecker flew away in search of another food item and repeated this process again and again.
Woodpeckers and other wildlife are known to store food that they plan to eat later. Caching behavior can be observed year-round, but it is during autumn and winter when I notice an increase in the frequency of this activity. It is a time when food reserves will become especially important and will benefit certain wildlife when their preferred foods that are otherwise more plentiful throughout the rest of the year are less readily available.
I regularly see two methods of caching that take place locally: caching in many locations and caching in one spot. Each method works, provided the appropriate party instills it. The lifestyle of the wildlife in question determines how they have evolved and choose if and how they store their food.
Red-bellied woodpeckers store food in caches located in a variety of places. Here and there, caches of seeds, nuts, corn, and even pet food are spread across the red-bellied woodpeckers’ territories deep and snug under tree bark and in cracks in fence posts and siding on houses. Care is taken to make sure the food is properly hidden and secured in these strategically chosen locations. This method of diversified caching means the cache collectively is safer from raids. Raids do take place, but should a pilferer discover the cache, only that location is known at that time; the other reserves remain safe and sound.
Other bird species, such as nuthatches and chickadees, store food in a similar fashion by spreading caches throughout their territories. Nooks and crannies in tree bark beautifully hold the birds’ caches for as long as they need them. Squirrels make scattered caches as well. These familiar backyard residents make use of lawns and holes in trees by turning them into productive food storage sites.
Another common food storage option is a single cache, or larder, where a large food supply is stored in one place. Instead of burying acorns throughout the land, chipmunks store their bounty within their homes. Because chipmunks spend winter in their burrows, it makes sense that they would have food right where they can dine on it whenever they are hungry and not have to venture out into the cold in order to retrieve it. The larder makes for safer food access because unnecessary trips outside are avoided and with it the exposure to harsh seasonal elements as well as the risk of predation from hawks, coyotes, and anyone else who happens to also be searching for a meal.
Honeybees and beavers also keep food in one spot in or near their homes. A honeybee colony is able to survive winter by feeding on at-home honey reserves that were made before sources of nectar were officially depleted for the year. Similarly, beavers maintain their diet of woody plant material in winter by storing an easily accessible pile of it underwater near their lodge.
Preserving food by using some form of long-term food storage solution is how many forms of wildlife are able to live year-round in certain areas. If the wildlife did not cache their food, they would need to assume different behaviors. But there is a reason that caching is the chosen behavior among them, and that is because it is found to be reliable.
Some colored pencils used to create Buried Treasure sit alongside the drawing.
Caching is the source of so much interesting activity that takes place during this colder time of year. It is worth peeking out of the window or visiting a nature preserve to see who is running or flying about as they make preparations and also to learn who has already made those preparations and will make limited or no appearances until the return of warmer weather.