Northern Flickers!

I've been watching a pair of Northern Flickers in an oak tree nearby. They have been working on their nest. Hopefully, I'll have a some nice pictures of a few baby flickers soon.

These flickers are the yellow-shafted variety. They (both male and female) have distinct red nape patch where the red-shafted variety does not have the red nape patch. The yellow-shafted male has a black mustache. The red-shafted male Northern Flicker has a red mustache.



The yellow-shafted male (above picture) also has a yellow underwing and yellow tail, normally only visible in flight, but I happened to catch the male displaying his plumage in the above picture. You can also see it's black mustache. The female (right) is very similar to the male but without the distinct black mustache.

Northern flickers have very distinct markings. They have a black bib on their breast. The black spots on their belly and black bars on their backs help to easily identifiy this woodpecker from others.

I spent Saturday and Sunday on Brush Mountain with my brother-in-law Kevin and Summer. Check back later in the week for some cool pictures on several new birds I have not seen before. I'm still fairly new to birding and photography so my checklist is growing very quickly!