That is a neat looking bird! We had one that looked very similar at our house
in Superior several years ago, including the fully brown crown. Aside from the
lack of saguaros in our neighborhood, I convinced myself that it was not a
Gilded due to the round spots on the "thighs", which in theory would be more
oval on a Gilded. The bird in your pic looks like it has round spots. Ours
didn't obviously have narrow bars on the back and shoulders. Unfortunately I
never saw ours side-by-side with a Northern for size comparison.
Wasn't there also a Gilded-looking flicker in Ft. Collins for a few years?
Maybe they do disperse up this way sometimes. Or maybe Gilded-Northern hybrids
provide a means of gene dispersal.
Peter RuprechtSuperior
On Tuesday, January 23, 2018, 1:53:18 PM MST, Ted Floyd
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hey, folks. Check out this woodpecker, which I photographed yesterday, Mon.,
Jan. 22, at the Lake Park Open Space, Boulder County:
If this photo were from, oh I dunno, Yuma, Arizona, or somewhere, wouldn't we
call this a male Gilded Flicker? It's got the all-brown crown, the extensive
black tail tips, the big black oval on the breast, the pale back, and of course
the telltale red malar and bright yellow in the wing and tail. I well realize
that we're not in Yuma. But, other than the probabilistic argument, can anybody
talk me away from the ledge of calling this a Gilded Flicker?
Sorry, I have no other photos. When I was in the field, I assumed I was looking
at a Red-shafted x Yellow-shafted. I will say that two impressions struck me at
the time: (1) the truly yellow hues to the wings and tail; (2) a sweetness and
wimpiness about the whirrr flushing call.
Also of interest at the Lake Park Open Space was a flock of 10 Steller's Jays.
This is the same place that for several years was the easternmost outpost in
Boulder County for Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay.
Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder County
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