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Colaptes pitius
Spotted several Chilean Flickers feeding on the ground near Lago Tyndall Hosteria, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile. The birds have beautiful bright yellow eyes.
Feeding on the ground adjacent to Lago Tyndall Hosteria, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile.
The Chilean Flicker is restricted to the temperate forests and Mediterranean zone of Chile and Argentina. It is a somewhat unusual looking flicker, having a largely barred pattern and bright whitish eyes. In overall appearance it somewhat resembles the very distant geographically, Fernandina’s Flicker (Colaptes fernandinae) of Cuba. Like the Fernandina’s, this is the only other flicker in which males do not show any red in the plumage. Males of the Chilean Flicker have a more marked moustache area, lacking in the female. Unlike the Fernandina’s Flicker, the Chilean has a dark crown and dense barring on the breast. The wing feather shafts are yellow, giving a dull yellow flash when it flies. This flicker shows a white rump in flight, and in shape it is relatively short billed and short-tailed. It is a common species anywhere there are trees, including non-native species near towns and villages. The pre-requisite appears to be trees, of any type as the forest types it is found in include very dry xeric forest and edge of Matorral shrubland to extremely wet temperate rainforest and all types in-between. It takes mature and old growth to second growth, but prefers the forest edge or more open sections of forest. The Chilean Flicker forages on the ground on insects as well as up on trees. Most often they are observed in pairs, and late in the breeding season as family groups. Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Neotropical Birds
Spotted on Jan 9, 2015
Submitted on Feb 2, 2015
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