While birding Lake Park in Milwaukee one of the highlights was watching the Northern Flickers, yellow-shafted feeding on a couple of clumps of Staghorn Sumac plantings in a ravine. 3 or 4 different Northern Flickers hit these plants hard for seeds probably with anticipated snow coming and the ground having 4″-5″ of fresh snow down now. I have never seen Northern Flickers on sumac before. Very many American Robins and Black-capped Chickadees hit these plants hard too while I was there, even a brief stop by a pair of Eastern Bluebirds even checked out the seeds but did not stay. I think of the different species of birds that have hit these plants over the years is amazing, and this is just a couple of plants I am sort of watching. It was a cloud day with brief sunlight, cold temps around 30 degrees and winds off the lake, made for a cold day out there. Images were taken on April 17, 2018.
Northern Flicker, Yellow-shafted
Binomial name: Colaptes auratus
Category: Woodpeckers and Allies
Size: 12.5” long, 20” wingspan
Weight: 4.6 Oz
Beautiful pictures, Jim, of a beautiful bird. Thanks so much for sharing with us as you do. The wings on these flickers are just so vivid. They really standout against the snowy white backdrop.
Wonderful photos, Jim. We have these out here, too, and enjoy seeing the flashes of color as they flit from tree to tree. Thanks for sharing these.
All gorgeous photos Jim. I especially like the ones with their wings spread so you can see the yellow.