Monday, December 06, 2010

Northern Yellow-shafted Flicker

A pair of Northern Yellow-shafted Flickers were surprise visitors to the bird feeding area.  As these birds feed primarily on insect they are not attracted to our offering of various seeds. 

While waiting in the pop-up blind I described in the previous post the female flicker dropped in to perch momentarily on the broken poke stalks. 

A moment later she hopped onto a branch and began watching the standing tree beside her perch.

As she continued watching I noticed the male scaling the standing tree searching for a meal.  The male was partially concealed by branches and never gave me an opportunity for a good photograph.

In less than two minutes the encounter was over as the pair flew away but in that short time I had captured eighteen images; three of which you see here. 

10 comments:

Montanagirl said...

Nice work - they are beautiful shots.

Dominic Gendron said...

Very nice images, the first one is splendid!

Unknown said...

Coy, great shots! I had one of these beauties at the suet feeder this morning. Don't see that often

Elaine said...

Supurb photos! Flickers are such pretty birds. Too bad you weren't able to get shots of the male, but perhaps they'll be back.

??? said...

I haven't seen that species before, they are gorgeous. The red spot really glows!

Arija said...

What a gloriously beautiful bird and such wonderful captures.

You have so many brightly coloured birds in N.America.

Nancy said...

When I first saw these birds at our feeder, I thought they were woodpeckers. Doy! These are beautiful photos -- I can only hope photographs look half as good as yours someday. :)

FAB said...

Gorgeous patterns on this species.

Susan Ellis said...

Beautiful! the red patch is practically glowing!

Kjell T. Evensen said...

Amazing images. I enjoy your bird images.