Backyard Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.
Northern Flicker checking out the bird feeder.
David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Northern Flicker checking out the bird feeder.
The Northern Flicker (also known as a Yellow-shafted Flicker or Eastern Flicker) was back at my bird feeder but didn’t seem interested in the bird seed. One of my neighbors said it was working on a downed log while I was away in Florida. I need to get some more suet (beef fat) for the feeder for the woodpeckers. The flickers are high up in the pecking order at the feeder, and do not leave when a blue jay arrives.
I was about to leave for a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park and saw this brown bird with spots outside the Residence Inn in Boulder. My home away from home while working at SIRNA. I got a couple of pictures of the bird, but didn’t know what it was at the time. I finally figured out that it was a Northern Flicker. A woodpecker that feeds on the ground. In Rocky Mountain National Park I went for a hike in the Longs Peak section. A few images — a squirrel, a small white wildflower, and a purple crocus wildflower. Many more images for another day.
Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed here.
As I was walking to my car from the Boulder Marriott Residence Inn I saw this brown bird hunting insects. I didn’t recognize it, and had to look it up in my “National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds”. It is a Northern Flicker which is a woodpecker. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 400, 280 mm, f/4, 1/50 sec).