Mystery Animal Stored 300 lbs of Acorns and Nuts in a Microwave Antenna

Squirrels are not the only animals that stock acorns for winter. Some birds do it, too. And one species in California disturbed a telecommunications network with its storing practices.

The birds hid their acorns in a wireless antenna in Central California. A video that’s going viral displays technicians opening a compartment on the antenna and releasing a flood of acorns. In all, an expected 300 pounds (35 to 50 gallons) of nuts fell out. Walter Koenig, a senior researcher with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, says he’s pretty sure the acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) was behind the act.