Birds Of Santa Cruz – Sophie Wood Brinke

You might be hearing an Acorn Woodpecker working on storing food for the winter in what is known as a granary tree. Acorn Woodpeckers will spend months flying up and down, up and down from a single tree, tapping out thousands of holes for foraged acorns to sit over winter as the birds’ main food source. They will remember every acorn they store for the winter. A single granary tree may hold as many as fifty thousand acorns at a time!

These birds aren’t choosing just any tree to build a granary in. Often these food storage systems have been used by generations of woodpeckers who store food and live communally within each tree. These trees hold memories of many lives—food shared, rest taken. Next time you come across a granary tree, pause and appreciate the hard work it took to make this place a home and place of sustenance for so many.

Acorn Woodpeckers can teach us so much about change and resilience. Studies have shown that woodpecker nesting cavities create safe spaces for displaced animals after a wildfire. Wherever they go, their resourcefulness and meticulous care affect all life around them. Acorn Woodpeckers have a bright red cap, a white face and belly, and black plumage on their backs. Look out for three flashes of white when they fly—one on their rump and one on each wing. Chatty and boisterous, Acorn Woodpeckers are known to give a loud “waka, waka, waka” call.

They will also make chirps and trills when communicating with one another. Brandt’s Cormorant Phalacrocorax penicillatus, L 27.6″–31.1″ Breaking through the ocean’s surface, a Brandt’s Cormorant* carries a bouquet of seaweed in his beak to his mate on the cliffside. The sea is a deep green, the cormorants’ sleek black plumage silhouetted against the calm waters.

This isn’t just any seaweed gift but an integral part of the nest- building ritual that the mated pair will practice over the next few weeks.

Copyright © 2026 by Sophie Wood Brinker All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a review, no portion of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, or be used in training generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies or developing machine-learning language models, without permission in writing from Heyday. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Brinker, Sophie Wood author Title: Birds of Santa Cruz / Sophie Wood Brinker.

Description: Berkeley, California : Heyday, [2026] | Series: Birds of California ; vol 5 | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: LCCN 2025049608 (print) | LCCN 2025049609 (ebook) | ISBN 9781597147095 hardcover | ISBN 9781597147101 epub Subjects: LCSH: Birds–California–Santa Cruz–Identification Classification: LCC QL684.C2 B685 2026 (print) | LCC QL684.C2 (ebook) LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2025049608 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2025049609 Cover Art: Sophie Wood Brinker Cover Design: Marlon Rigel Interior Design/Typesetting: Marlon Rigel Published by Heyday P.O.

Box 9145, Berkeley, California 94709 (510) 549-3564 heydaybooks.com 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1kitap1.com/en For my family, and for all those working to build a more loving world To give up our imaginary position as the center, to renounce it, not only intellectually but in the imaginative part of our soul, that means to awaken to what is real and eternal, to see the true light and hear the true silence. —Activist, mystic, and philosopher Simone Weil 1kitap1.com/en Contents Author’s Note Introduction On watersheds On noticing On love as action A note on naming How to read this book Species California Quail Black Oystercatcher Wood Duck Turkey Vulture Golden-crowned Sparrow Brown Pelican Band-tailed Pigeon Hermit Thrush Snowy Plover Acorn Woodpecker Brandt’s Cormorant Anna’s Hummingbird American Crow Violet-green Swallow Elegant Tern Red-shouldered Hawk Mourning Dove Burrowing Owl Bewick’s Wren Western Gull Black Phoebe Steller’s Jay Great Blue Heron Red-winged Blackbird Marbled Murrelet Acknowledgments Notes and Citations About the Author 1kitap1.com/en Author’s Note A Mourning Dove sits on the telephone wire; an Anna’s Hummingbird visits the honeysuckle outside the window.

Humpback whales sing as they travel through vast waters. A bobcat peers out from the dry grasses. Quail perch on weathering fence posts. People make breakfast, cry, talk on the phone, go to work, and try to make a home. All connected by a shimmering thread that winds us into the web of life, connected by reciprocity.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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