Northern Flicker

Northern Flicker (Red Shafted) Common to western north america, woodlands and meadows, this woodpecker is one of the few often seen on the ground, where it dines on its favorite food, ants. Flickers also use ants to preen, squishing them and smearing the remains on their feathers.  Ants contain formic acid, which kills small parasites on the skin and feathers.

Photo and above caption by US Forest Service.














Geese are feeding in the fields adjacent to the millpond. There is such abundant goose crap I watch where I step. Rosie races around the perimeter, a streak of glistening black, flushing them out; the quiet broken by the sound of flapping wings and honking as they flee to safety in the pond. 

Different varieties of birds are darting around my yard.  Regretfully, I can identify only the most common birds so I refer to my 1941 edition of “A Field Guide to Western Birds” to identify one I suspect is a male Red-Shafted Flicker Woodpecker.  I should get a new book; this one has few color plates, and I need a lot more detail. 

Morning fog burned off early to clear blue skies; a hint of spring.  I note burgeoning buds on plum, quince, and an early azalea.  Sap is rising.  How I love the springtime and its accompanying restlessness and indefinable yearnings.   

Nah, I know for what I yearn.

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