July 29, 2007 at 4:05 pm (General, Northern Flicker)
Over the last few weeks, a relative abundance of available summertime food coupled with our reduction in the amount and number of feeders we’ve made available has reduced the number of our visitors quite a bit. All that seems to be changing though. This morning and afternoon there has been a flurry of activity in the yard at a level not seen since springtime.
We’ve been absolutely swarmed by dozens of sparrows, house finches, goldfinches, black-capped chickadees and at least three northern flickers on the feeder, often at the same time. Today, a juvenile flicker spent quite a bit of time foraging in the yard as did a pair of robins and literally dozens of sparrows. Its good to see more activity and a broader diversity too.
Still the repeated visits of the flickers on the feeder was one of the highlights of a busy summer Sunday afternoon.
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April 28, 2007 at 6:02 pm (Favorites, Northern Flicker)
That’s a big bird and its up close!
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April 1, 2007 at 2:20 pm (Northern Flicker)
We recently re-configured our lonely little suet feeder. Last year we had a few visitors to our little one block suet cage feeder which was suspended from a shepard’s hook in the front yard. We didn’t know where a good spot might be or who might be visiting it, so we just dangled the cage and decided to see what happened.
The squirrels found it right away as eventually did some European Starlings and some smaller birds which dart to it from time to time. One morning though we were delighted to see a rather large bird hanging on for dear life, swinging to an fro from the little feeder. We eventually identified him as a Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) woodpecker of the red shafted variety. He and the missus visited a few times and after doing a little research, decided I’d try to make life a little easier on the guy by affixing the feeder to a tail support.
I picked up another suet cage, found a piece of scrap plywood, drilled a few holes and, with my wife’s assistance, we wired the cages to the board. I loaded both cages and suspended the new rig from the hook so it wouldn’t twist.
Not more than a day or so after the new feeder was up, both Mr. and Mrs. Flicker (no red cheeks) paid a visit. Initially, they were quite skittish in the yard, but now seem to be getting a bit more comfortable even when the sparrows and the squirrels are hard at work on the other feeders or in the birdbath.
He spent quite a few minutes hard at work on the suet and seemed to have a much easier time of it with the tail support. He was at it long enough that I could actually get a few somewhat usable shots through our windows without disturbing him. When he was done, it seemed like he gave us a wave and was off but not before he posed here for a nice profile.
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