Northern Flicker, Colaptes Auratus

Northern Flicker. Red-Shafted Flicker. Colaptes Auratus. Call 'em what you will. In my book, they're "Polka-dotted 'Peckers," and I love 'em, except for when they're drilling on the posts holding up my carport to remind me that I haven't put a suet cake out lately. The Golden-Shafted race lives on the other side of the Cascades, but where the ranges intersect, they occasionally interbreed. I had a cross here a few years ago which threw me for a loop. It didn't look right, and it took some research to figure out why it didn't fit the profile for Red-Shafted. Crosses play hob with identification! But this one is the classic figure of a male with its red "moustaches." The red feather shafts which once led scientists to classify it as a different species are clearly visible along the margin of the wing.

Gobble-gobble!

Day 357: Dealing with a plumbing issue was not the way I really wanted to spend today. I would have much preferred standing at the window to watch the robins, starlings and a solitary Northern Flicker take their fill of mountain-ash berries. The Flicker was something of a surprise. I've never seen one eat mountain-ash fruit before, although they are a fruit-eating species. The robins, on the other hand, always come to the table, often as not cleaning up every scrap, leaving nothing for the Cedar Waxwings, should any happen to appear. It's been some years since I've seen them. Yes, watching the birds gobble-gobble would have been much preferable to buying a new water heater, but the Fates had other plans for me. Knock wood, I'll spend tomorrow watching birds.

Polkadot 'Pecker

Day 32: I should probably just say, "My 'pecker has polkadots," and then leave you wondering for an hour or two before posting the photo, but I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea. It's true, though. My 'peckers (and I have at least two) have lovely polkadots. This one also has red whiskers, indicating that the bird..."BIRD!" I said...is male. Females' faces are plain. That said, I live in an area where there is some intergrading between our dominant western race of Northern Flicker and the eastern version which sports black whiskers and yellow feather shafts (as opposed to red) on the tail and wing. At least once, I have seen a black-whiskered bird at the feeder flying off with a flash of red, the telltale of a crossbreed. When intergrading occurs, it can make identification challenging. Fortunately, it's fairly clearcut with the polkadotted 'peckers.

Northern Flicker, Colaptes Auratus

Day 115: Aside from the charming polka-dot costume, Colaptes auratus (Northern Flicker) is quite the acrobat. Utilizing his tail to form a third tripod point in conjunction with his feet, he is able to stabilize himself and get better leverage for pecking. Note that I have used a masculine pronoun. Males of the Red-Shafted race (Colaptes auratus cafer) sport a dashing red "moustache." That said, where the ranges of Red-Shafted and Yellow-Shafted overlap as they do in my area, the facial markings may vary. In flight, the two races can be distinguished more readily as their respective colours are revealed. The flight pattern is a distinctive repetition of "flap-flap-flap, glide" as the bird "flickers" from one perch to another.

Paint A Mile Of Canvas

Day 227: They say once you have "painted a mile of canvas," almost anyone will notice that their skills have improved. I have now illustrated over 30 birds and a small handful of flowers in addition to making a portrait of my kitty, and I am definitely becoming more familiar with what to expect from the various media I'm using in my sketches. I'm still exploring "style" and am discovering that it may need to be flexible when working with different subject matter. Inking a few feathers on a bird is one thing; applying it to a flower's center is another. I have yet to attempt watercolours seriously, having only recently begun to accumulate the hues I want in my palette. These were rendered in Prismacolor pencil and watercolour pencil, a combination I am coming to appreciate more and more. From the top left: Downy Woodpecker (possibly my best work so far), California Scrub-Jay, Red-Breasted Sapsucker, Northern Flicker, Western Tanager.

Polka-Dot 'Pecker

Day 26: This is a Polka-Dot 'Pecker. You can call it a Northern Flicker if you want to be entirely accurate or a Red-Shafted Flicker if you have an emotional attachment to the field guides you used when you were a novice birder fifty years ago, but Colaptes auratus cafer is unquestionably a Polka-Dot 'Pecker in my book. Cornell's website will tell you a lot about their life history, and mine seem determined to disprove some of their data, particularly the part where it says, "Flickers don't habitually visit bird feeders." Speaking from many years of observation of them here, I can assure you that a Flicker doesn't just visit a feeder; it occupies it, leaving no room for anybody else to squeeze in. Even the Steller's Jays, not quite as large but certainly more assertive, will not attempt to budge a Polka-Dot 'Pecker out of the box when it's gobbling down black-oil seed. They also enjoy suet blocks, and a solitary Flickeer can work its way through one in the space of two or three days. This young lady was cleaning up after the crows' breakfast of dog kibble, laying her face tightly against the board in order to get the last morsels. You might also be interested to learn that a Flicker's tongue can be extended two inches beyond the tip of the beak in order to slurp up tasty bugs, and that when their young are 17 days old, they begin clinging to the sides of the nesting cavity rather than resting on its floor. Flickers are amazingly agile, and use their tails to brace themselves against tree trunks and other vertical surfaces. Cornell will also tell you that Northern Flickers are decreasing in number and are listed as a "Common Bird in Steep Decline," so despite the occasional awakening to the sound of drilling in my carport, I love having them here.

Northern Flicker, Colaptes Auratus

Day 170: Well! This portends a crop of little baby Flickers in the future! These photos were taken just two days apart, and I'm not sure which bird has taken to drumming on the ridgepole of my house (might be either or both), a fact which both annoys and amuses me. I love my Flickers, but when the house starts rattling, I step out the door, clap my hands and speak loudly when I say, "Get offa there, you pecker!" It usually works, but occasionally the guilty party will just give me the eye and return to drilling. At that point, my voice goes from "loud" to "shout," and my clapping becomes insistent. And, as you might have expected, the bird flies off, only to return before I can close the door behind me.

So...how do you tell a male Northern Flicker from a female? The male sports a moustache! I've zoomed in on the faces here to show Mr. Flicker's red "mo," a marking absent in the female. The local residents are the Red-Shafted race, although I've seen some intergrades with Yellow-Shafted here as well. In the Yellow-Shafted race, the male's moustache is black and he wears a red patch at the back of his head.

Northern Flicker, Red-Shafted Race

Day 72: Once considered two separate species, Northern Flickers are now believed to be two different races within the same species, Colaptes auratus. The Red-Shafted version (C. auratus cafer) occurs in the western part of the country and the Yellow-Shafted (C. auratus auratus) occurs in the east. Occasional intergrades are seen along the line where the ranges meet and in fact, one showed up in my yard last year displaying the head colouration of a Yellow-Shafted along with distinctive red feather shafts. The pure form of Red-Shafted has a grey face and brown crown, whereas in the Yellow-Shafted, it is reversed (tan face, grey crown). Male Yellow-Shafts wear a black moustache (as did my intergrade) while Red-Shafted's "mo" is red. The flight pattern is the same for both races and is what gives the species its name: the wingbeats are struck in a repeating "flick-flick-flick (glide), flick-flick-flick (glide)" which causes the bird to dip in the air like the loops in a Christmas swag. You might think that Flicker's faddish polka-dot jacket would make the species an easy target for predators, but in fact it provides very effective camouflage, breaking up the bird's silhouette by imitating areas of light and shadow such as would be cast by branches with or without foliage. Flickers often feed hanging upside down, using their tail to brace against a limb for stability and to provide greater power to the thrusts of their beaks. Members of the greater family of Woodpeckers, Flickers drill with a slow, even "tap-tap-tap" rather than rapid jackhammer rapping.

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).

Desperately Seeking Protein

Day 116: A faint, dry sound registered subliminally, drawing my eyes to the big Doug fir at the corner of my front yard. I waited, standing as still as it is humanly possible to stand, and then in the deep shadow at the base of the tree, somewhat obscured by the branches of a minor shrub, a "piece of bark" moved, its toenails making the scratchy noise as it progressed around the tree. For the next ten minutes, a Northern Flicker (Red-Shafted Flicker) diligently probed the deep crevices in Big Doug's hide, always staying in the shadow. Then at last, the bird moved into the single brush-free spot of sun three feet up from the tree's base, rapping a few times, then gobbling down the insects raised by the vibration. At times, the Flicker's entire head would disappear from sight as it sought bugs deeper in the cracks. I was amazed that the bird's skull would fit into such a narrow opening. I wonder what's hatching, that it draws two insectivorous bird species to my yard on a biting-cold February day? It must be good, because the Thrushes were back in force again today after a 17-degree night, desperately seeking protein in the leaf litter.

The Acrobat

Day 111: Colaptes auratus cafer (Red-Shafted/Northern Flicker) knows how to strike a balance. This handsome "woodpecker" uses its tail in a manner Olympic gymnasts could rightfully envy. Not only does it employ it as a counterweight, but also for leverage. Here at one of my feeders, Flicker executes a yoga-style "upward dog" in order to peck at a suet cake, using the stiff tail to push against the base of the box. This action lessens the amount of grip needed by its talons, and the bird can dine at leisure. "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." Flicker beat Newton to the punch by centuries!

Northern Flicker, Colaptes Auratus

Day 86: While walking through the snowy, dim stillness which is Longmire's wintertime Trail of the Shadows, a small movement drew my eye to the base of a tree and caused me to stop my walk until I could identify its source. It was no easy task, the light dimmed by overhanging cedar boughs, but when a few seconds later, a bit of brown-flecked "bark" moved again, it revealed itself to be a Northern Flicker, foraging in a cavity. Intent on its business, the bird plunged its head time and again into the hole, emerging after several probing thrusts with its beak to look 'round for potential predators. It must have felt I wasn't dangerous, because it allowed me to move closer until I had a clear view through the lens, although it continued to perform its safety checks between bouts of searching in the hollow until I moved on.

The bird we call "Northern Flicker" is a member of the woodpecker family. Colaptes auratus is further broken down into "Red-Shafted" and "Yellow-Shafted" members (western and eastern variants respectively). Our Red-Shafted Flicker males can be told from the females of the species by the bright red malar ("cheek") marking. In flight, these birds reveal reddish underwings and the distinctive "beat" which gives them the name "Flicker."