Northern Flicker

 The Northern Flicker is suited up with a black crescent at the throat and spots disbursed all along the breast, flanks and undertail coverts. Their black-barred backs seen against crisply spotted chests are an uncommon but successful fashion pairing of spots with stripes.
This species is very noticeable in the field with their red moustache (male), underwing and tail undersides. Out west we have Red-shafted Flickers; the other, eastern, subspecies is Yellow-shafted. They have been recorded as interbreeding, so they are not counted as separate species anymore. They nest in tree cavities which they chip out themselves. I've always spotted these members of the woodpecker clan alone or in small groups. About two weeks ago there were three who cruised through my backyard together. This group paused in the black walnut tree.They have the soft grey toned feathers which feather also the mourning doves on their heads. Flickers are a type of woodpecker and their flap-flap-flap-glide-flap-flap-glide flight movements (undulating) reveal this kinship as well as their stature (about 12" long), their stout and strong beak with potrusible tongue and their zygodactyl feet. Their toes are arranged differently from other birds, two facing forward and two backwards for scaling trees. This is how they shimmy up and down, plus side to side so smoothly. Woodpeckers' potrusible tongues wrap up around the eye socket when they are pulled in, so as to refit the whole tongue's length within the bill. They can stick out their tongues past the tips of their beaks by a couple of beak-lengths using special muscles as a part of their unique skull and tongue anatomical adaptation. Flickers eat a lot of ants, so they feed often on the ground using their pointed, extensive and sticky tongues. Most other woodpeckers feed up in and under the barks of trees and not the ground, though I've seen Pileated Woodpeckers, also eaters of ants, on fallen tree limbs (in Montana). The Flicker call is a clear and far-carrying Kyeer.With its patterning and flashes of red in flight, the Red-shafted Flicker is eye-catching in the wintertime when many other birds display toned down plumage. Look for the white rump patch as Flickers fly off.