Yellow-shafted Flicker from Vancouver Island...by Dave Kemp

 

Photo by Dave Kemp

Northern Flicker

(Colaptes auratus)

A big brown woodpecker that often feeds on the ground, seeking ants.   When in the air, it flashes bright colours under its wings and tail , as well as a white rump.   Two distinct forms, eastern/northern "Yellow-shafted Flicker" and western "Red-shafted Flicker (pictured above) are named for colour of feather shafts in the wings.   The Yellow-shafted form has bright yellow under wings and tail, red crescent on back of head, tan face, grey crown; male has black mustache stripe.  The Red-shafted (pictured above) has salmon-pink under the wings and tail, gray face, brown crown; male has a red mustache stripe.   There are many intermediates where the two forms interbreed in southwestern Canada and the western Great Plains.

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BarrytheBirder