Hello everyone! Going to let Brad have a small break from covering for me while I’m on the mend. Difficult enough bringing you the recent rapid fire posts, but having to deal with all the standard stuff around the headquarters is a daunting task without the added burden of keeping our unruly legal department under control – may have to up his bonus this year, but don’t tell him that. As far as an update on the surgery front, there has been a small hiccup with the transition from the surgical dressing to the surgical boot that has brought some unexpected discomfort (oddly more painful than the surgery itself). Other than that, surgeon says everything looks good. He also reiterated the “no weight for 5 more weeks” edict within earshot of Linda which threw a giant wrench in my well contrived plans – back to the drawing board. Seems like everything I want/need now is just out of reach from my crutches and scooter which is starting to annoy me – oh, except for my running shoes that are beyond just “out of reach” to the point I have no idea where the hell they are now. Linda’s devious I tell you, devious. Let’s see, pull up browser, type in H-O-K-A.com and get me some new sho…oh crap, here she comes…backspace, backspace, backspace, H-A-U-N-T.com, “Who, what, me!?! No, no, I’m, just looking for new haunted trail props” – this is going to be a long 5 weeks. Note, I did make a new haunt-to video which I’ll mention at the end in case you are interested.
While searching through the photo queue, I noticed something in one of the image sets that made me laugh in reference to my current situation. Perfect, welcome to tonight’s featured feathered friend.
Hit the jump to see a Northern Flicker characteristic I have never seen before!
I’ll get to that feature in a little bit. First let’s cover some more easily seen aspects of the Flicker. For those not familiar with this member of the Picidae family, more commonly referred to around here as the Pecker family. There are 23 members of this group that includes the standard 16 Woodpeckers (technically 17, but we have sadly given up on the Ivory-Billed). For the curious, I have photographed all but four of those – the Lewis’s, American Three-Toed, Nuttall’s and the Black-Backed species continue to elude me. There are 4 Suckers of Sap of which I have seen all thanks to the latest trip out to Arizona (oops, may have let out a secret) and rounding out the family are two Flickers.
The Gilded Flicker was checked off my life list a couple of years ago thanks to a late day find at Catalina State Park outside Tucson, AZ (link here). Fortunately when it comes to today’s featured Flicker, they are readily accessible across all of North America and their not so subtle name makes that readily apparent. What you may not be aware of is there are two categories (subspecies) of North American Northern Flickers, the Red-Shafted and the Yellow-Shafted.
Those distinctions represent the regional color differences this species has on the shafts of their flight feathers and on their tail. ABA got this one right – Red-Shafted do indeed have red shafts and show red coloring from underneath in flight where Yellow-Shafted display a radiant purple that compliments the blue skies beyond. Although there is some hybridization and co-mingling in places, for the most part the red ones hang out west and the purple ones hang out east. Okay, okay, the “yellow” ones, just keeping you on your toes.
Fortunately, there are some additional characteristic to differentiate the two subspecies, even if you do not get a good look at their flight feathers.
Male Yellow-Shafted: Brown face with a red nape and a black whisker (extension of the bill) (link here).
Female Yellow-Shafted: Brown face with a red nape and no whisker
Male Red-Shafted: Gray face with a red whisker to match the red feather shafts
Female Red-Shafted: Gray face, no nape and no whisker
Using the cheatsheet above, you have already figured out that today’s specimen is of the male Red-Shafted variety…and by the associative rule, you also know that this series was not taken locally here in the Midwest.
This male was actually seen on our trip to Arizona back in January 2023. Apologies, I should make that “males” as there are actually two of them here, one from Desert National Wildlife Refuge in Vegas and the other one at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park just outside of Vegas in Blue Diamond. Gnarly branches Desert NWR, smooth branches Spring Mountain. Admitted, these shots have been sitting in the queue for a while trying to determine some interesting angle of a very common bird in North America. Maybe it was the injury or just the extra scrutiny in review, but the shot above caught my attention. Probably noticed it in the digital darkroom, but missed again until now.
I think this may be the first time I have ever seen, not to mention “capture” a Flicker flicking its tongue out at me!
For some bizarre reason, I thought to myself “Everything seems to be just that much out of reach these days, if only I had a …” yeah, don’t ask, too much time stuck on a bed or couch. Regardless of my mental state, it was still something new and thought I would share.
Although classified as Woodpeckers, Flickers actually spend most of their time digging in the dirt and underbrush for ants and bugs. Their tongues are actually barbed and allow them to reach in and snatch them up.
To close out the wildlife portion of this post, these two subspecies of NA Northern Flickers along with the Gilded were each considered their own species until 1982 when the American Ornithologists’ Union forced a collective grown from the bird listers of the world and combined them into a single species.
Okay, so I haven’t just been watching YouTube videos and mindless TV shows on my hiatus, I’ve been watching YouTube videos, mindless TV shows AND editing my latest How-To Haunt video. I was busy filming various pieces of the process before the surgery knowing that this would keep me busy. What I didn’t know at the time was how hard it was going to be to edit all the various pieces together – many out of order and many redos because of camera failures etc. The good news is it is finally done. A lot longer than I wanted even though I tried to cut everything I could out of it, yet still leave enough so the viewers could recreate the process. Anyway, if you are interested to learn more behind the scenes at the Intrigued Haunt Department, here is our process for making large scale pumpkins.
Take care everyone and thank you again for all your well wishes!
Wildlife Intrigued 
Good luck in the recovery. We often see northern flickers in Calgary. Lately, they’re causing a lot of problems by pecking into the stucco siding on homes.
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That same house-siding-pecking flicker visits our neighbourhood too.
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they are everywhere – better put those fake Owls out ha.
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We have plenty of real owls in the neighborhood.
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Does it know Morse Code?
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😂
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Hahaha, it is probably calling the rest of the WPs over for a block…rather wood party!
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Thank you Maggie/Richard, at least the fretting about the cutting part is over with and I can now turn my complete attention to getting fully healed up (and back on the dirt trails). I can imagine what those bills can do to a stucco house. Our previous house had cedar siding and every year I was up on a ladder trying to caulk all the holes those bas….I mean those birds drilled in. We have less of that in our new home, but being in the middle of the woods, we do get a peck from time to time (mainly the Red=Bellied WPs) and I have to go out and explain in gentle but firm words there are a THOUSAND trees around us they can drill on to their heart’s content. If they sass me back I call in the resident Red-Shouldered Hawk had. Appreciate the well wishes and take care on your many travels.
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😅
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beautiful pics
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Thank you!! Appreciate you dropping in and checking us out. Take care and have yourself a great rest of the week.
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Thank you very much! Appreciate you coming by and checking us out – have a great rest of your week.
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Hello Brian,
What a striking bird, and that tongue!👅
Sending continued wishes for your recovery.
Best wishes,
Takami
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Thank you Takami! With that tongue, it kind of reminds me of a snake with feathers ha. Really appreciate your continued support in my recovery and hope all is well with you and yours across the pond. May you have continued successes with your amazing bird photography efforts.
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Are you talking about the B-word? (bonus) Does that mean I can finally use the corporate jet? I was surprised the first time I saw a woodpecker tongue in one of my photos; thinking it was an artifact I nearly deleted the photo. We’ve see so many I have a keyword in LR for that. Now that I’ve read this, I have to review all of our Flicker photos to see which varieties we’ve seen across the country. I just assumed they were the same as in my backyard. Heal quickly, but prudently; you know who I’m talking about.
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B-word…okay, who told, it was supposed to be a secrete everyone. I am sure you have both Flicker varieties in your tins (sorry, only get one check), sounds like you are far more lucky than I am it catching their beak projectiles. Careful, prudent, caution, patience, slow…I know not what these words mean?
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Not sure it’s luck, just an nearly video frame rate quantity of photos. Sooner or later we are bound to see a woodpecker tongue.
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As they say, every once in a while a squirrel finds a buried nut!
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That’s what Jan’s dad always says, but it’s about a blind squirrel.
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Yeah, fingers went too fast, was supposed to have blind in there
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Almost didn’t “see” that.
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Hilarious!
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Beautiful photos. I love flickers. Five more weeks of no weight on the ankle are going to be rough. That pumpkin video made me foam at the mouth. You are a very good haunt craftsman.
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As Maggie pointed out above, the Flickers (and the entire rest of the WP family) are wonderful to watch…when they are NOT on your house ha. Currently staring at a mountain of puzzles, Legos, metal craft and books to help me get through all this. Fortunately in today’s world we also have YouTube, WordPress and haunt communities to add to the distraction. Problem is, what am I going to do when I get through all that..by this Wednesday! Appreciate you taking the time to take that video in Tim – gives a sneak peek into the daily activities here in the Intrigued Haunt Department. You would appreciate all the stuff that goes on in our multiple haunt labs – more to come on that front once I can get around better. Thanks for coming by.
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Great photos of these handsome birds, Brian. We regularly see hybrids along the Front Range of the Rockies, but the red-shafted definitely dominate. I have seen their tongues, but I don’t think I have captured them in a photo. Maybe I need to review some of my older photos!
I don’t know about you, but if I were laid up for weeks on end, I would also try to tackle my reading list.
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Thank you Tanja, every once in a while I pull off a decent shot. Would like to see one of those hybrids sometime, Cornell really wasn’t definitive on what to expect with those – a combination of red and yellow shafts, a mixture of color like amber or a mismatch of the wrong whisker patterns. Definitely check your shots as I had no clue until I got in the digital darkroom that I had this one – so fast with their flicks can miss from one shutter open to another. I definitely have a stack of books … and WordPress sites to get caught up on. Problem is on top of all this I am having a hopefully small eye issue (appt tomorrow) do to something that happened the day before the ankle surgery and trying to give the eyeballs a bit of a rest – hoping just stress of getting all the to-do done before the big hiatus and the surgery itself. Tops on that list will be a reread of my absolute favorite book – the Comfort Crisis – can’t think of another book that has had that kind of impact on me. As always, appreciate coming by and sharing your thoughts.
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No false modesty with regard to photography, please! 🙂
Hope you get your eye issue resolved. And get through the days and weeks of recovery without going crazy!
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Eh, there is always room for improvement. Thanks for the well wishes. Have eye followups this week so will see how that goes. Under three weeks now for the no-weight ankle phase – pretty sure Dante included this torture in his works ha!
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Excellent photos, and what a remarkable capture of his tongue! I had no idea he had such a colorful one. When I was researching flickers, I was intrigued (yep) to learn about “anting”, the act of lying on an anthill, letting biting ants crawl all over their feathers. The ants have formic acid on their bodies, and that rubs onto the feathers, providing some protection against other types of biting pests that would aggravate birds.
I’m looking forward to your huge pumpkin video – don’t know if I have time for another craft, but if I do, that would be a top-of-the-list candidate.
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Thank you Sam! I’ll give credit where it is due on the tongue shot … Continuous Fire. I was not aware of the anting concept – let them walk on you, take their natural protection and then chow them down – now that is what I call adaptation hehehe. The pumpkin video came out a bit long – tried to cut and speed up as much as I could, but wanted to make sure all the tricky parts were covered well. I’ve tried so many tutorials on the web and there are always sticking points when I am trying to reproduce that were skipped in their vids. Fortunately, YouTube lets you jump ahead or paused for future viewing if it gets too long. I was doing everything I could to get that filmed before the surgery so I had to piece it all together and edit it afterwards which ended up being quite the effort – 3 solid days of editing post surgery. Luckily I had absolutely nothing to do other than that!
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Wonderful photos and wishing you a speedy recovery!
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First, here’s wishing you a complete recovery. Speedy would be nice, but behave and do it right.
Second, sorry for the long absence. Life seems to toss up more roadblocks, speed bumps and detours the older we get. (You have been warned.)
Third, your superb photographs and excellent commentary have given us a — flicker — of hope that we’ll soon be back to birding.
Take good care.
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Thanks for the well wishes Wally – Linda is ruling with an iron fist at the moment so I have been behaving … soo far – my resolve is waning – she might have to call in Brad for some extra muscle ha. No worries about the delay Wally, we completely understand – life happens.
You are too kind with your accolades Wally – especially with all the beautiful work on your site, but glad I was able to bring you some enjoyment and best of all further encouragement. Continued best wishes to you and Gini – heads up, eyes forward, resolve strong.
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Hoping your healing process goes smoother from here on out, B. These birds are beauties! I see them in Northern AZ regularly. Happy haunting! ☀️
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So far the recovering is going well – at least physically, mentally, I’m a complete wreck as they say. Stitches came out last week and the wounds are starting to heal up – Linda likens my ankle to Frankenstein as they made a massive cut on the outside and then additional orthoscopic holes on the other sides. You made me smile with the happy haunting comment!!
Take care Lisa and thanks for dropping by.
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Your five weeks with the scooter and crutches must be almost over, and you must be very happy. I had to do the same about a year ago. Though I’ve seen lots of flickers, I’ve never seen their tongues. That is one long tongue, Brian!
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Unfortunately just under 3 weeks to go on the no weight phase. I feel for you having to go through this hell ha
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Just wanted to stop in again to comment on your pumpkin Haunt video. I watched the whole thing, very informative, thank you for doing it. Excellent tips, and thanks for the brand names – extremely useful. Next time around, you might move the camera a bit closer to the work – I was really squinting to see the detail. Or maybe just film a few close-ups, and cut those into the final video. Excellent commentary, again, very helpful. I’m inspired!
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Glad you enjoyed the video(s) Sam. This is all still extremely new to me. I am comfortable giving highly technical presentations to technical communities and management thanks to my former career, but making videos for a more general audience has been work to say the least. Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving me feedback- that is extremely helpful as I plan out my future videos. One of my earlier videos was a mess because I came in too close and basically the viewer got to stare at half my head for a large portion of the tutorial – spooky for sure ha!! I over-compensated on that and can definitely keep it in mind to get closer on future ones. Next big one doesn’t have me in it (due to ankle), so I was able to get a lot tighter on those images. Can’t wait to see your pumpkin creations!! When you do find time between all your other interests, feel free to reach out if you have any questions. We have been using that process for many years now and I might have overlooked or glossed over something in the video. Take care, appreciate you coming by…and thanks again for watching that rather lengthy video (future ones will be shorter) and especially the valuable feedback.
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Great shots!
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Thanks Sharon – one of those fun finds while in the digital darkroom. Do not recall seeing that tongue while out in the field, but the camera knows ha. Thanks for dropping in.
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