A new boarder
 

A Northern Flicker has taken up residence in our maple tree; apparently he had to do a little re-arranging - yesterday he was digging in the hole and throwing our beakfulls of wood chips. Kind of a pretty thing...

https://i.imgur.com/VqELlkgl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/MkePniyl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/FdNxmEBl.jpg

Great pictures, interesting birds for sure.

very beautiful bird the first one I ve ever seen...charlie

In flight, the undersides of the wings are yellow and the red on back of the head is more apparent . Cool birds, indeed.

60 years ago, I was told that flickers East of the Mississippi had yellow underwings, west they were rose-colored. Whatever, they're great. We have lots here at the cabin

Beautiful birds. Flickers and the little downy woodpeckers love the suet feeder about two feet outside the window of our sitting room. If we sit still we can look at them from just a few feet. Have not been there nesting though. There is a knothole like that in our one maple - but it always gets stuffed full of walnuts by the squirrels

I've always identified them as yellow shafted flicker.

You are not wrong - same bird

https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/...rthern-flicker

My favorite course in college was ornithology. I have a copy of Peterson's or Sibley's guides at hand along with binocs in my truck and my kitchen. You never know what you can add to your life list.

here ya go Daryl - don't need the book

https://www.signals.com/graphics/pro...971FLD_FLD.jpg

Daryl, have you tried the Cornell All About Birds website? Great for ID, but the best part is the recorded song for each bird. We play them in the yard and often call birds in for better viewing. You should give it a try.

I have Gary, thanks. I participate in their annual bird count and the one for the Maryland Ornithological Society. Identifying birds by their call is much easier than trying to find it under a heavy canopy here in the east.

The flicker also has the white rump patch. You can see that plain as day when they away from you. It's a good spot to aim for in a survival situation. Just sayin'.

The young ones are much tastier especially if you can get them before they learn to fly. Just sayin'

They taste like red winged blackbird and not as wormy as cardinal.

I’m calling the Audubon Society!:rotf::rotf::rotf:

In the South: Yellowhammers

Alabama Confederates were nicknamed Yellowhammers.

https://256today.com/why-huntsville-...whammer-state/

https://wildsouth.org/yellowhammer/

Here's a genuine yellow shafted flicker that has taken up permanent residency on my deck. He found a real nice perch on my spare wood stove. The feathers are from a real flicker that met his unfortunate demise on the peak of my shed at the hands of either an owl or more likely one of the neighborhood kestrels. I found these feathers all over the ground around the front of the shed. I know several artist ladies who make things out of feathers I save and give them and that's how this came to be. A friends wife made the whirly gig, and included the feathers, and gave them a perfect home and gifted it to me. BTW, the feather shafts really are yellow.

Try pan seared chickadees in a marsala sauce to really impress your guests at your next holiday dinner. True free range.

I'm sure you all know how Audubon was able to paint such realistic plates for his studies.

And used a fine little .410?