近日，美国加州一灭虫公司在一处民宅进行检查时，意外地从房屋墙内挖出约650斤橡子。后来发现，这些坚果是由一对橡树啄木鸟花了数年时间私藏的，如今它们的劳动成果被“一窝端”……
A pest control company in California accidentally pulled 700 pounds of acorns from the walls of a home during a pest
inspection.
The exterminator later discovered that a pair of woodpeckers have stored acorns in this house for several years, and now the fruits of the birds’ labor have been cleared.
CNN：啄木鸟在加州一户人家的墙壁内储藏了约650斤橡子
综合CNN、《华盛顿邮报》等媒体报道，当加利福尼亚州的一户房主发现有虫子从卧室的墙上爬出来时，他们打电话给灭虫公司老板尼克·卡斯特罗（Nick Castro）寻求帮助。卡斯特罗在墙上挖了一个洞来寻找虫子，没想到却看到了他从事这行20多年来从未见过的情形……
The Sonoma County homeowners called on Nick Castro, owner of Nick’s Extreme Pest Control, when they spotted worms coming from a bedroom wall.
When he cut a hole in the wall to find it, Castro witnessed something he’d never seen in more than 20 years in the business.
成千上万的橡子从墙里溢出来，每当卡斯特罗把手伸进洞里，就有更多的橡子滚出来……很快他发现，是啄木鸟在墙洞里储存了数万颗橡子，总共重约650斤（700磅），可能是过去两到五年收集的。
Thousands of acorns spilled out of the wall, and more appeared whenever Castro stuck his hand into the hole.
He soon discovered woodpeckers had stored tens of thousands of acorns, which he said weighed roughly 700 pounds, in a wall cavity, likely collected over the past two to five years.
卡斯特罗在社交媒体发布帖子，分享了这个奇特的经历：
“接了个活儿，结果发现这鸟有点‘囤积狂’。装了8个大垃圾袋，差不多650斤的橡子。我可从来没遇到过这种情况。”
据CNN报道，啄木鸟通常把橡子储存在房屋的外面，有时储存在雨水沟里，但很少把橡子放进室内。然而在这户人家中，卡斯特罗发现这些鸟从烟囱的一个洞里，把它们的宝贝扔下来，然后再从另一个洞进入阁楼，享用它们储藏的美食。
Often woodpeckers store acorns on the outside of homes, sometimes in rain gutters, but rarely do they get them inside. In this case, Castro discovered the birds dropped their treasures through a hole in the chimney and entered the attic through a separate hole to feast on their stash.
西雅图野生动物保护组织“西北保护”的主管——保罗·班尼克(Paul Bannick)曾撰写过两本关于啄木鸟的书，他表示，橡树啄木鸟（acorn woodpecker）是美国西海岸常见的一种物种，通常会在冬天收集数千颗橡子。它们几乎可以在任何东西上钻小洞——树木、鸟舍、小屋、房屋——来储存食物。
Paul Bannick, who has written two books about woodpeckers, said the acorn woodpecker, a species common on the West Coast, often amasses thousands of the nuts for winter. Acorn woodpeckers can drill small holes in almost anything — trees, birdhouses, cabins, houses — to hoard food, he said.
橡树啄木鸟，图源：YouTube@Nature on PBS视频截图
班尼克说，橡子对橡树啄木鸟的繁殖至关重要，因为它们可以帮助雌性啄木鸟在整个冬天保持丰满和健康。
Acorns are vital for the birds’ breeding, Bannick said, because they help female woodpeckers stay plump and healthy throughout the winter.
“这是一种强迫性的过程，如果橡树啄木鸟知道地上有橡子，它们就会尽可能多地收集和储存橡子。” 班尼克解释说。
“It’s a compulsive process,” said Bannick, a director at Conservation Northwest, a Seattle wildlife preservation organization. If the woodpeckers know there are acorns on the ground, “they’re going to collect and store as many as they possibly can.”
最终，灭虫公司在加利福尼亚这户人家的墙上打了三个洞，才把全部的橡子移走，堆在一起约有6米高。
然而，由于已经被鸟兽粪便和墙体绝缘材料的玻璃纤维碎片污染，这些鸟儿的攒了多年的“心血”全部被处理掉了……
It took creating another three holes in the home’s walls to remove all the acorns, which ultimately piled and reached about 20 feet high, Castro estimated.
The acorns were thrown away as they were covered in droppings and bits of fiberglass from the wall’s insulation.
这一新奇的事件经外媒报道后，也在社交媒体引发网友关注。不少外国网友纷纷表示：心疼这对啄木鸟……
“想象一下当这对啄木鸟发现它们的藏品全都没了时的表情。”
“我为鸟儿们毕生的心血被破坏掉了感到难过。”
“这对啄木鸟会在冬天结束后从南方飞回来，结果却发现自己储藏的食物全没了，只好饿肚子。我希望这些人给鸟儿们建一个鸟屋，把橡子放到里面。要是我的话我就会。我有个中等大小的鸟屋。”
“这估计是一对超级没有安全感的啄木鸟吧。可怜的家伙！不过，没准是它们发现往烟囱下扔一颗橡子会掉下去吃不到，直到填满墙就能吃到了！”
综合来源：CNN，华盛顿邮报，中国日报网
