Friday, October 12, 2012

Bird Watching: Northern Flicker in Fenelon Falls


In September I visited family in Fenelon Falls and was told an interesting bird had been recently visiting their side yard on occasion. They couldn’t tell me what type of bird it was, so - like Detective Columbo - I kept my eye on the side yard.


‘Killdeer’ was my first thought when I saw the visitor through a kitchen window, but it soon became apparent I was way off the mark. A killdeer wouldn’t perch, like a woodpecker, on a telephone pole.

‘Flicker’ was my second thought and good online photos from Cornell Ornithology Lab confirmed my guess. And, according to Cornell, my reference to similarities to a woodpecker was spot on. (I noted yellow flashes under its wings, common to Northern Flickers in eastern Canada. Oh yeah, I’m university material).

[“The black and red patches make the flicker easy to spot”]

Later, I was able to make a video of five flickers searching the front lawn for food. I’ll post it to Youtube and provide link later.

[Photos by G.Harrison]

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