August 1, 2008

Northern Flicker?

Wouldn't you know we'd spot an unknown bird when my bird-wise parents are out of town, driving, and can't be called?

Tobi-wan spotted this - said it looked like "a big woodpecker with an arrow pointing down on the back of it's head" - I didn't get a good picture of the front, but it had a VERY clear D-shaped black patch (like a D pointing down, flat side up) on the chest, just below the throat. I don't remember any markings near the eye, and I thought it was more black-and-white speckled than black-and-brown, but my picture seems to tell me otherwise. They sat on our stump for a while, two of them, until a black squirrel scared them off.

As far as other identifying notes, I would've called them 'starling sized' - a little bigger than a robin, maybe. They weren't upright on trees, so they had less of that 'upright woodpecker' feel to them. But mostly that's all I had time to notice, the clear red chevron on the back, speckled back and front, and the clear black D-patch on the chest.

Here's the only good picture I got. Not bad for from a distance, through a window ...

Here's two pix I found online (not my images) that seem to confirm the identification, although neither seem quite like what I saw overall ...

the D-patch: from this site:

And the red chevron on the back of the head from this site:


What do you think? Northern Flicker?

Posted by Kim at August 1, 2008 9:56 AM
Comments

Yep! That is a Northern Flicker. We have seen them in our woods too.

Posted by: karen at August 1, 2008 1:52 PM

Yep, Northern Flicker. We went through this same process earlier this spring when dh saw some pecking at the ground. Did you know, oh wise friend, that Flickers are the only woodpeckers that eat bugs from the ground????? Did ya??? Huh??? :) Well, now you do.

Posted by: Barbie at August 2, 2008 8:37 AM

I've got Common Flicker checked off in my bird book, although I have apparently only seen one once, in June 1997. Wow...that's a long time ago! LOL

Posted by: Rosanne at August 2, 2008 5:33 PM

Aren't they just GORGEOUS?! We had ONE in our yard about three years ago. I got a few far away pictures of it. I loved the call it made. I've always hoped that one would come again.

Posted by: Robin at August 3, 2008 12:52 AM

You do good on your own! Yellow shafted Flicker -- they probably were after ants ...we ought attract them!

Posted by: Moog at August 5, 2008 9:13 AM
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