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Northern Flicker "yellow-shafted"

Colaptes auratus

Notes:

Although it can climb up the trunks of trees and hammer on wood like other woodpeckers, the Northern Flicker prefers to find food on the ground. Ants are its main food, and the flicker digs in the dirt to find them. It uses its long barbed tongue to lap up the ants. (Cornell)

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9 Comments

Caleb Steindel
Caleb Steindel 9 years ago

really? well, you learn something new every day... ;)

Tom15
Tom15 10 years ago

Actually Gilded Flicker is a full species. I checked my 1980 Peterson Field Guide and it lists yellow and red-shafted separately, but both with the name Common Flicker and the same scientific Colaptes auratus name without any subspecies name. All eastern birds are yellow-shafted and all western are red-shafted with intermediate birds in between.

Caleb Steindel
Caleb Steindel 10 years ago

very nice. You could add the common name to be more specific, yellow-shafted flicker. It's a subspecie of northern flicker. the other 2 subspecies of it are red-shafted flicker and gilded flicker

Tom15
Tom15 10 years ago

Thanks for the nice comments blaise and Mary. I was lucky to have such a cooperative bird, it didn't notice I was there.

mary.gallo.m
mary.gallo.m 10 years ago

That is the best picture of a flicker I've ever seen. Great!

blaise
blaise 10 years ago

beautiful spotting

Tom15
Tom15 10 years ago

Thanks Fyn, I was sitting on the ground photographing bluebirds and robins feeding on berries when this flicker came in and joined them.

Sinan thanks for the nice comment, and it's ok if you share the photo.

SinanEksi
SinanEksi 10 years ago

very very nice..
photo to your blog if you allow I share

Fyn Kynd
Fyn Kynd 10 years ago

Beautiful images of this often skittish bird.

Tom15
Spotted by
Tom15

Bolton, Massachusetts, USA

Spotted on Feb 22, 2014
Submitted on Feb 23, 2014

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