A young male Northern Flicker flies out from spotted twigs.

This fledgling Northern Flicker and his brother can fly, but not feed themselves adequately on this overcast and windy day. Flickers eat mainly ants and beetles, digging for them with their unusual, slightly curved bill.

Un-enhanced, and lots of dead twigs.

1/4x teleconverter
jobu-gimbal tripod
auto-ISO

Thank you for looking. I had little to do with this—a beautiful bird in certain light and wing position.

See next shot or photo in comments.

Tags:   Pacific Nothwest Northern Flicker red shafted youngster fledgling cloudy

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Isn’t this a remarkable-looking bird? This fledgling Northern Flicker and his brother can fly, but not feed themselves adequately on this overcast and windy day.

Not a good job of trying to eliminate dead twigs from the tail feathers. Was un-enhanced. Now added a curve and recropped a tad.

1/4x teleconverter
jobu-gimbal tripod
auto-ISO

Thank you for looking. I had little to do with this—a beautiful bird in certain light and wing position.

Tags:   Northern Flicker windy overcast un-enhanced Pacific Northwest Colaptes auratus Jan Timmons cloudy Auto ISO

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Flickers are fairly large woodpeckers with a slim, rounded head, slightly downcurved bill, and long, flared tail that tapers to a point. This is either the adult that was feeding two (large) fledglings, or one of the fledglings.

Unenhanced
Jobu gimbal tripod head and tripod
Kept the focus on the beak; one can barely see it.
Auto ISO

Thanks for looking and for sharing my joy!

Tags:   Northern Flicker western colaptes auratus Carpintero Escapulario Pic flamboyant white rump red shafted red whisker on males pink-red underside Pacific Northwest Jan Timmons Nature Photography Day bird therapy

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Spotted and photographed by my spouse —the better photographer — this morning. We now think, from the Cornell bird site, that it is a Red shafted male Northern Flicker. Has the following:

Black bib on upper breast (from photos as it pecked on the ground), red malar (moustache), barred upperparts and spotted underpart. I'm excited! We saw at least five; one looked a tad like a juvie. From Cornell: "...flickers eat mainly ants and beetles, digging for them with their unusual, slightly curved bill."

Presumably here all year!

Nikon D4, Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 VR, 2x TC, (600mm)
1/640 sec; f/13; ISO 1600
normal program, matrix metering
(I cropped this about 50 percent, otherwise no change from raw)

Many thanks for looking and helping! Not our fence or barbed wire. We have no need for such.

Tags:   Red shafted male Northern Flicker. black bib Pacific Northwest woodpecker family Nikon D4 600mm Flickr Flicker wire Howard Marsh photographer pic flamboyant

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In the northern hemisphere, when Northern Flickers fly you’ll see a flash of color in the wings – yellow if you’re in the East, red if you’re in the West – and a bright white flash on the rump.

Thanks for looking.

© Jan Timmons, 2018

Tags:   Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus female perched Pacific Northwest Carpintero Escapulario (Spanish) Pic flamboyant (French) Jan Timmons Washington state wild nature conservation wild and free woodpecker

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