Flickers Are Nesting
March 29th, 2008 · 3 Comments
Northern flickers are nesting in our woods. In the spindly-pine-culling frenzy of January, we left a couple that have obviously been used by woodpeckers for nesting cavities. One in particular is riddled with large entrances to woodpecker nests. I was hoping for pileateds, but gaudy flickers are just fine.
As I walked our path and passed by the woodpecker tree, a male northern flicker flew out of it and into a nearby tree. Our flickers are quite assertive and don’t hesitate to zip after red-bellied woodpeckers, which might explain why we have nesting flickers and no red-bellies.
Tags: Northern Flicker
3 responses so far ↓
1 Mary // Mar 30, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I’d like to have Flickers. I guess we’re too close to Charlotte – and away from heavily wooded areas to enjoy them. I’ll just have to settle for Red-Bellieds….
Nice photos
)
2 Dan // Mar 30, 2008 at 7:23 pm
The colors of the Northern Flicker are so beautiful. This female you photographed really shows the brown face and gray crown of the yellow-shafted. They are the one woodpecker species we have which is most likely to be found on the ground.
Enjoy!
3 Iris // Apr 4, 2008 at 8:22 am
I wish I could’ve gotten a shot of the male as well, but he was too elusive for me that day. I also see pileated woodpeckers on the ground a lot, usually ripping apart a rotten log, looking for food.