Last week, we had a surprise guest arrive in our humble East York backyard. It had the size of a pigeon, but it looked almost like a Downy Woodpecker due to the red marking on its head. It was pecking away at a dirt patch where raccoons had attacked our grass. Sigh! Does anyone know what this bird is? Sorry about the terrible film quality. I took the pictures through a dirty screen window.
Cheers,
Erin
Northern Flicker, female probably. This is confirmed at first glance by my grade 5 dd who just finished her research and public speaking project on Woodpeckers.
ReplyDeleteDid you know the Northern Flicker is the most common woodpecker in North America?
http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/181/_/Northern_Flicker.aspx
Follow the link and listen to the bird sounds. Very cool.
My Audubon Society field guide calls it "common flicker" and states that is the only North American woodpecker that commonly feeds on the ground - your bird like to eat ants and beetle larvae, the guides goes on to say.
ReplyDeleteThe Flicker is our friend! Skunks make an awful mess on the yard but the Flicker just turns up little butts which aerates the yard.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this, ladies. I'm thrilled to add a new bird to my list of experiences. I love that children are teaching us about things.
ReplyDeleteMy son and I looked up Northern Flicker in our big book of birds and that's definitely the feathered bird that showed up in our yard. It hasn't been back since. We saw a Great Blue Heron at Riverdale Farm today. I LOVE BIRDS!
Erin