Northern Flicker feeding Baby

Friends of mine called me to come up and photograph this nest of Northern Flickers near their mountain house, so I hopped in the car the next morning... more

by Judi Dressler

Title

Northern Flicker feeding Baby

Artist

Judi Dressler

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Friends of mine called me to come up and photograph this nest of Northern Flickers near their mountain house, so I hopped in the car the next morning and drove up. It was a cloudy day, and mom was busy feeding her youngsters. Apparently the dad had been killed somehow, so mom was doubly busy feeding these very vocal chicks. The young birds look as though fledging will be soon, probably within the week!

From Cornell: "Northern Flickers are large, brown woodpeckers with a gentle expression and handsome black-scalloped plumage. On walks, don’t be surprised if you scare one up from the ground. It’s not where you’d expect to find a woodpecker, but flickers eat mainly ants and beetles, digging for them with their unusual, slightly curved bill. When they fly you’ll see a flash of color in the wings – yellow if you’re in the East, red if you’re in the West – and a bright white flash on the rump."

Photo taken the morning of July 15th, 2018, near Ward, Colorado

------------------------------------------

Tied for 2nd place in FAA's All Colorado July Logo contest, on 7/1/2023

------------------------------------------

Descriptive keywords and tags for this image include flicker, flickers, northern flicker, northern flickers, woodpecker, woodpeckers, baby bird, baby nesting, nest, colaptes auratus, colaptes, family, bird family, feeding, mom, feeding babies, with, chicks, chick, babies, tree, birds, nest cavity, red-shafted flicker, colorado, summer, wildlife, photograph, judi dressler, dressler, and chordata.

Uploaded

July 15th, 2018