{"id":28290,"date":"2015-09-15T05:27:49","date_gmt":"2015-09-15T11:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=28290"},"modified":"2026-02-06T06:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:29:09","slug":"a-northern-flicker-on-a-fence-post-in-the-centennial-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/09\/15\/a-northern-flicker-on-a-fence-post-in-the-centennial-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Flicker On A Fence Post In The Centennial Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NorthernNorthern Flicker on a fence post in the Centennial Valley – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/3200, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Early on the second morning when I was in Montana last week I was able to photograph this male Northern Flicker on the side and top of a weathered fence post. I often see Northern Flickers in the Centennial Valley but rarely do they stick around long enough to get photographs of them.<\/p>\n

Most of the time I see them flying away or diving down into the brush, in fact I haven’t been able to get this close to a flicker since May of this year at the Magical Sapsucker Tree<\/a><\/span> before someone chopped it down and all the nests in the tree were lost.<\/p>\n

This flicker seemed to be enjoying the warmth of the rising sun, it was pretty chilly that morning.<\/p>\n

I am always happy to photograph woodpeckers of any kind especially when they are out in the open like this Northern Flicker.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Northern Flicker photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Early on the second morning when I was in Montana last week I was able to photograph this male Northern Flicker on the side and top of a weathered fence post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513,27,223,12,2255],"tags":[4004,2257,3830,898,3705,4931,4062,3704,4104,5434,8917,2146],"class_list":["post-28290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-montana","category-northern-flicker","tag-adult","tag-colaptes-auratus","tag-fence","tag-fence-post","tag-flicker","tag-flickers","tag-male","tag-northern-flicker","tag-perched","tag-valley","tag-wooden-post","tag-woodpeckers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-male-mia-mcpherson-4413.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-7mi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37342,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/24\/mountain-bluebird-plumage-development-stages\/","url_meta":{"origin":28290,"position":0},"title":"Mountain Bluebird Plumage Development Stages","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"These images from different times of the year show Mountain Bluebird plumage development stages from not long after fledging to adulthood.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perched juvenile Mountain Bluebird, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7094.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7094.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7094.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7094.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8625,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/20\/male-northern-flicker-in-its-nesting-cavity\/","url_meta":{"origin":28290,"position":1},"title":"Male Northern Flicker in its nesting cavity","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I was photographing some Pine Siskins along a road in Madison County, Montana when this male Red-shafted Northern Flicker stuck his head out of his nesting cavity in an aspen and surprised me.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Northern Flicker in its nest, Wade Lake, Madison County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-mia-mcpherson-montana-5876.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-mia-mcpherson-montana-5876.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-mia-mcpherson-montana-5876.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-mia-mcpherson-montana-5876.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39172,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/05\/05\/northern-flicker-nesting-cavity\/","url_meta":{"origin":28290,"position":2},"title":"Northern Flicker Nesting Cavity","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed my favorite nesting tree in the Targhee National Forest and this Northern Flicker nesting cavity.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Northern Flicker male at nest, Targhee National Forest, Clark County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-male-nest-mia-mcpherson-8290.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-male-nest-mia-mcpherson-8290.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-male-nest-mia-mcpherson-8290.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Nature is brilliant.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Northern Flicker perched outside of his nest, Targhee National Forest, Clark County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-male-nesting-forest-mia-mcpherson-8171.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-male-nesting-forest-mia-mcpherson-8171.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-male-nesting-forest-mia-mcpherson-8171.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Image","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"My favorite image from photographing yesterday at Farmington Bay WMA is this high key Northern Flicker image taken near Glover's Pond.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"High Key Northern Flicker near Glover's Pond at Farmington Bay WMA, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4436.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4436.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-flicker-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4436.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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