Photo 38234, (c) John Beatty, all rights reserved

Attribution © John Beatty
all rights reserved
Uploaded by wabbytwax wabbytwax
Source Flickr
Original http://www.flickr.com/photos/63026124@N05/5834683265
Associated observations

Photos / Sounds

What

Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)

Observer

wabbytwax

Date

June 15, 2011

Place

York, PA (Google, OSM)

Description

Being very quiet I happened upon this bird without it seeing me behind some bushes. I just figured it as some kind of woodpecker but this is the first I've ever seen one of these. I was very excited to not only see it but to get some spectacular photos of it's different profiles as well as its behavior. From reading about this bird later it is very natural to see these birds doing exactly what it was doing which is feeding on ants and other insects on the ground. And here I thought it was just a confused woodpecker. This particular species is actually a "Yellow-Shafted" Northern Flicker as opposed to its cousin out west the "Red-Shafted" Northern Flicker.

Sizes