Northern Flicker Gallery

These pictures are all of the red-shafted variety, the most common race here in the Northwest.

A close-up view of a female red-shafted northern flicker's face
The Modern Moustache
The moustache has fallen out of favor for the modern man but remains a staple of the modern red-shafted flicker. The males' is glorious red but females settle for brown. This malar stripe varies among flicker races — it's black in the eastern yellow-shafted males, for example.

Ladies & Gentlemen, Chester A. Arthur!
Now that's a spot-on impersonation of the 21st President of the United States of America! At least in the first picture, in the second this red-shafted female presents a more traditional look. Flickers often feed on the ground as you can see by the mud on her bill on a rainy winter day.
A female red-shafted northern flicker sits on the ground on a rainy day at Ridgefield Nationl Wildlife Refuge
A female red-shafted northern flicker sits on the ground on a rainy day at Ridgefield Nationl Wildlife Refuge
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February 28, 2011