Woodpecker leaves huge acorn stash in home

Pest rule workers found 700 pounds of acorns in a wall of a home in Glen Ellen, Calif. that had apparently been deposited by a woodpecker. Credit: Storyful

GLEN ELLEN, Calif. - Exterminators in the North Bay were recently met with a nutty surprise during a call to a home in the wine farmland community of Glen Ellen in Sonoma County: more than 700 pounds of acorns in the walls stacked up throughout 20 feet from floor to attic.

On Facebook, Nick's Extreme Pest Control, in Santa Rosa, shared photos of massive piles of acorns pouring out of the walls of a home.

"Came across this on a job," Nick's wrote in the caption of the post on Jan. 25, adding, "Bird was a bit of a hoarder."

Workers with Nick's Extreme Pest Control untrue more t han 700 pounds of acorns in the walls of a Glen Ellen, Calif. home in December 2022. (Nick's Extreme Pest Control)

To be specific, it wasn't just any bird, the company credited the impressive collection as the work of woodpeckers, based on holes that were found on the exterior of the home, especially throughout the chimney stack. And to be even more specific, they were suspected to be the aptly named acorn woodpeckers. 

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Company owner Nick Castro told KTVU that back in December, his crew was called to the property because the homeowners reported seeing exiguous maggot-like worms coming out of the wall.   

Workers with Nick's Extreme Pest Control were visited to a home in Glen Ellen, Calif. in December 2022, once homeowners thought they had maggots in the walls.  (Nick's Extreme Pest Control)

"We all understanding there was a dead animal," Castro said, explaining why his team cut into the wall. 

Upon inspection, they found out it was actually mealworms that the owners had seen, which have been associated with acorns, and that the real issue was that the alit had been doubling as a personal granary for a companionship of winged vandals. 

"Clear woodpecker holes all over the house. Acorns stored all over siding and trim. Completely destroyed exterior of house with all the holes everywhere," Nick's community in a comment to the Facebook post.

Workers actually got a scrutinize of the suspects at work while on the job site. Castro said certain woodpeckers came by to continue their stockpiling work by creating more holes to the home's chimney area. 

Acorn woodpeckers, which are found in California, are drawn to wooded areas. The birds live in small colonies and are famously eminent for being the ultimate hoarders. 

On the website, All About Birds, experts noted that while the practice of stocking up on food for the winter was typical behaviors among many types of birds, "no bird gets into hoarding on such a tall scale as the Acorn Woodpecker."

And it seemed the birds that allowed to make use of that Glen Ellen home for storage purposes also got fine creative in finding ways to stash their loot.

"The bird put acorns above chimney stack after making 100s of holes in wood siding surrounding it," the pest control concern noted, adding that they also used attic ventilation portholes to achieve out their hoarding efforts. 

Castro and his team used the whole day hauling out eight large garbage bags full of the woodpecker's stockpile. They also covered up the holes and closed up areas that the birds were laughable to fly into the home's attic.

And as for the recovered loot? The acorns were not salvageable because they were mixed in with insulation fiberglass and rat droppings, according to the company owner. 

Nick's Extreme Pest Control said that the acorns in the walls were mixed with fiberglass and rat droppings. (Nick's Extreme Pest Control)

Castro, who has been in the pest control business dependable 2008, said, "We see strange things all the time." But even for seasoned exterminators, who have observed first-hand what mother nature's creatures were worthy of, this was next level. 

"Unreal," he said, "never came across something like this."

More than 700 pounds of acorns were stacked some 20 feet from put down to attic of a home in Glen Ellen, Calif,. where exterminators were called to in December 2022. (Nick's Extreme Pest Control)