Not the best pictures. I was taking through a screen.
I had heard that it takes a while to get hummingbirds to come to a new feeder. I was prepared to wait. I placed the feeder on the patio table while I was getting the liquid ready. I had two hummers start checking it out. I filled it and then put it up on the pole and they were there eating within a half an hour. I was really surprised.
I also had a Flicker visit today. He really seemed to like the suet.
You need to look more closely at your flicker... malar stripe, nape mark, face and crown color. See?
ReplyDeleteSo it is a Northern Flicker Male (Red-shafted) . Is that what your getting at. I have always just called them Northern Flicker. I don't know if I've ever seen a Yellow-shafted.
ReplyDeleteYou're getting close.
DeleteThe red mustache and salmon wing and tail shafts are features of Red-shafted Flickers, the expected form in the West.
However, the brown face and gray crown, as well as the red nape mark point to Yellow-shafted Flicker, the Eastern form of flicker.
Thus, this is a hybrid (or intergrade), likely from the narrow overlap zone in extreme NE British Columbia and adjacent Alberta. These birds are rare but regular in the Pacific NW in winter.
Well how bout that! Learn something every day. I'll do some reading up on it. I'm trying to earn the regular birds. The mixed ones are a little harder.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info.