Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus)

Emerging from a cavity in a telephone pole, this is an adult male showing more extensive red on the crown and a pale eye. These clownish-looking woodpeckers are famous for their communal breeding strategy in which multiple females and multiple co-breeding males care for the young. The females are usually all sisters while the males are all brothers from a different family. Their laughing calls reportedly inspired the Woody Woodpecker cartoon. This is the California subspecies "M. f. bairdi" characterized by solid black chest and yellowish throat.