Picidae, Picidae, What do you see?

What kind of bird is this? 

Seen yesterday on Foster Island this is most likely Elvis the pileated woodpecker. He has his beak tucked under his wing while he is doing a little grooming. It makes for an interesting angle with the peak of his head pointed at the ground. 

If you look at the photo from a distance and maybe blur your eyes a bit you can almost think of the peak as a beak and he starts to look like a one-of-kind, red-faced bufflehead. O.K., maybe that is over doing the creative angle a bit. :-)

How about this one?

Also seen yesterday on Foster Island, this is obviously a flicker. But take a moment and compare this bird with two seen on Wednesday morning.

The lighting is different so the first bird has a nice golden tone that the other two lack, however that is not one of the differences between the birds. Two of the three flickers (and Elvis) have a marking that indicates they are male woodpeckers. It is the red malar stripe on their cheeks. The female does not have any red on her face.

The last two birds also have orange feathers showing on the underside of their tails. Along with the red malar stripe on the male this indicates they belong to the red-shafted, western branch of the northern flicker family. The males of the yellow-shafted (or eastern portion) of the northern flicker family have black malar stripes, yellow under their tails & wings and a red marking on the nape of the neck.

Surprisingly our first flicker has the red cheeks of a red-shafted and also red on the back of the neck. My best guess is that this fellow had ancestors from both the east and the west.  In the Sibley guide he says, "Intergrades occur frequently..." but he does not mention or show this particular combination of markings.

So next time you take a walk in the park be sure to look closely at the flickers you meet. It can be fun to figure out their gender and even some of their family history with just a glance. 

If you would like to check out a few more variations on the flicker theme click here.

Here are a few more shots from yesterday on Foster Island.

It is interesting how sometimes his crest is more upright. It certainly gives him a surprised look.

How close were you looking?

Are the two pileated woodpeckers in this photo a surprise? Did you notice that one of the previous photos was not a male, but actually a female. If you click on the photo for a larger view you can even see that the iris of her eye is a bit more orange while his is yellow.

To prove that the color difference is not just the angle of the light. Here are two photos from the same location, however one photo is of the male and one of the female. Can you see the difference?

Have a great day on Union Bay...where natures lives in the city!

Larry