An Unusual Sighting

Day 162: Documentation. It's all about documentation. Okay, it's not the best photo because it was shot at an angle through double-pane glass, but it captures distinctive features which indicate that this bird is the product of intergrading, i.e., a genetic crossover between Western and Eastern races of Northern Flicker. The yellow underside of the tailfeathers could possibly be ascribed to colour variation in either subspecies; however, the red patch at the nape of the neck is only found in male Yellow-Shafted Flicker, but Yellow-Shafted (Colaptes auratus auratus) should have a black malar (cheek). Red malars are a characteristic of Red-Shafted (Colaptes auratus cafer).