Male Northern Flicker Images
This morning I am sharing a few male Northern Flicker images that I took seven years ago at the edge of a mountain forest in the Targhee National Forest in Idaho.
This morning I am sharing a few male Northern Flicker images that I took seven years ago at the edge of a mountain forest in the Targhee National Forest in Idaho.
I like having my windows open so I can hear the sounds of birds when I can't be in the field. It helps me to hear them especially when the world is so crazy.
This morning I wanted to share a few Red-naped Sapsucker photos I have taken while in gorgeous alpine forests of Idaho and Utah.
The American Birding Association has selected the Pileated Woodpecker as their Bird of the Year for 2021 and I think it is an excellent choice.
This adult female Northern Flicker and a male were both foraging for hawthorn berries when I spotted them from across a creek high in the Wasatch Mountains.
A few weeks ago while up in the Wasatch Mountains I was able to see and photograph an immature male Downy Woodpecker as it foraged for food in willows and while clinging to a Common Mullein.
By excavating their own nests Northern Flickers provide nests for other woodland birds that can't excavate nesting cavities on their own and those nests can be used over and over again. Nature is brilliant.
The adult Red-naped Sapsuckers often clung to the entrance to the nesting cavity for a few seconds before they went inside with the food they had gathered to give to their chicks.
For one and a half wonderful nesting seasons I was thrilled to photograph a pair of mated Williamson's Sapsuckers excavating a nest and tending to their young.
When I noticed the Downy Woodpecker moving towards the front part of the tree I changed my focus to it and waited to see if he would come out into the open and when it did I was ready to takes images of him.
This immature Northern Flicker was one of the last birds I spotted and photographed three days ago while up in the Wasatch Mountains and I was happy that she stayed long enough for me to take a nice series of images of her.
Who knew that Downy Woodpeckers have eyes the color of a fine Cognac? I didn't until I took this Downy Woodpecker close up in the Wasatch Mountains one month ago.
I spotted a flash of black, white and red as a bird landed in the aspen tree that was closest to me above where the wrens and swallows are nesting and realized that a male Red-naped Sapsucker had flown in and was foraging for food in the buds of the aspen.
I dug into my archives and picked these Northern Flicker photos from May of 2015 to share today because I saw a Northern Flicker yesterday and thought of how they will soon start excavating their nesting cavities to rear their young in.
This Red-naped Sapsucker was perched on a dead aspen branch near the nesting cavity where I photographed a chick being fed by the adults in mid July.
I did find one jewel in the images, a photo of one of the adult Red-naped Sapsuckers flying away from the nesting cavity looking like a bullet.
I do not believe that this bird was one of the pair of adult Red-naped Sapsuckers I photographed feeding the chick in the nesting cavity, his bib and breast markings were different from the other adult birds.
Although photographing the Red-naped Sapsuckers at the nesting cavity has been frustrating at times it has also been very rewarding to observe all the action of the sapsucker family.
Jackpot and frustrations... I'll explain the jackpot first and get to the frustrations later about the Targhee National Forest Red-naped Sapsucker feeding its young.
This male Red-naped Sapsucker was photographed last year in the high Uintas, a mountain range that is east of Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Mountains I can see from where I live.
Maybe next year I'll have better opportunities with these Red-naped Sapsuckers and maybe they will chose to place their new nesting cavity in a location that is easier to photograph.
Two years ago today I was in the Targhee National Forest of Clark County, Idaho photographing birds at what I called the "Magical Sapsucker Tree".
I came across this image and realized that the Red-naped Sapsucker had its tongue stuck out and I hadn't noticed that before.
I photographed my favorite nesting tree in the Targhee National Forest and this Northern Flicker nesting cavity.
My favorite image from photographing yesterday at Farmington Bay WMA is this high key Northern Flicker image taken near Glover's Pond.
I am heart-broken about losing the Magical Sapsucker Tree but I am glad to have found a few more where the chicks are thriving and are safe so far.
I could hear the Northern Flicker excavating inside the nesting cavity and when he would stop he would appear with a bill full of shavings and forcefully eject them from the cavity.
Yesterday may have started off dreary but it sure got lively with a Willamson's Sapsucker, Mountain Chickadee and a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches at the Magical Sapsucker Tree!
I will photograph birds big and small, those that are flashy and those that are dull. From rare to common it doesn't matter to me.
I was delighted to spot this male Downy Woodpecker in the willows the last time I went out to Farmington Bay Bird Refuge.