I rarely get photos that actually show these red shafts because they usually can’t be seen when the bird is perched and I seldom get photos of flickers in flight.
And yes, I recognize the irony of posting a photo I like of the same species I complained about in yesterday’s post because they never cooperate with me. But as chance would have it I did get lucky with a flicker in flight yesterday morning at Farmington Bay WMA so I decided to publish back to back posts about the same species.
1/8000, f/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
This female tried to be as nasty with me as flickers usually are but this time I was a split-second quicker than she was. As I pulled up on her and stopped my pickup I already had my lens out the window but even so she took off before I could get any perched shots or adjust my camera settings, thus the exorbitant shutter speed. I did manage to get this one taken immediately after liftoff though. This wing position shows off the beautiful red shafts of the wing primaries and gives us a glimpse of the spectacular salmon-red coloring found on the underside of the wings.
There’s an interesting history behind the name of the Northern Flicker. For years the Red -shafted Flicker of the American West and the Yellow-shafted Flicker back east were considered to be separate species. But there was a problem with that classification – on the western Great Plains where their ranges meet the two “species” not only commonly interbred with each other but their offspring were fertile, producing intergrades between them that are still common in that area. That doesn’t fit well with the definition of “species” so today these two color variations are considered to be subspecies of a single species, the Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus).
Yes, I was happy to get this shot yesterday but I still don’t consider that I’ve won my war with the flickers because this bird is slightly past me, I had to add canvas on the right for composition and the head of the bird in a larger version of the image is a hair short of tack sharp.
I’ll consider this image to represent a battle fought to stalemate rather than a war that’s been won.
Ron
Addendum:
Blog reader Paul Hess in a private email has brought up the tentative possibility that this bird might be an ” “orange-shafted” intergrade between red and yellow” and I wonder if that might be the case.
If it were I’d be slightly surprised because it’s my understanding that flickers are only slightly migratory and Yellow-shafted Flickers aren’t normally found in my neck of the woods (we have red-shafted all year around here). And the illustration of a Red-shafted in flight in my Sibley’s field guide shows the color to be similar to this bird.
But I also believe I’ve seen flickers whose colors are a little more red than this. Any thoughts from my readers?
I’m REAL late to this party, but I just wanted to point to the reality that boys and girls do what boys and girls do and none of us are real keen on reading maps, believing in limitations or following directions, particularly from the EXperts 🙂
Sorry I’m late to the party today. Gorgeous shot! You’ve definitely scored one against your nemesis! 🙂
Some interesting effects have been studied in desert reptiles in the CA desert since the larger highways went in. Natural selection pressures come in all shapes and sizes.
Beautiful shot. I learned something today. Thanks for the info!
That poor Flicker is probably being ostracised for Failing to Fully Foil the Fotographer.
Amazing shot and a great start to my day.
If she is it wasn’t for lack of effort, that’s for sure. She worked hard at the 4 F’s. Thanks, EC.
EC, I love your humor. Just sayin’! I’m REAL late to this party, but I just wanted you to know that. I always look forward to your comments! 🙂
This picture is in the WOW category !! And always learning about birds ! So much information . Baffled so .. 8000 shutter speed .. I just don’t get it !! At aperature priority right..
Yes, aperture priority, Marina. But the sky in the background was very bright and the bird was underexposed so I had to bring it up during processing.
Wonderful shot and especially nice to see it in flight. Everything looks right for red-shafted to me. I think there is some variability of intensity of red between individuals. Flickers may wander some in winter and Yellow-shafted forms sometimes are seen in large groups. Here in western Oregon, a few Yellow-shafted forms are reported each year, although I have seen many more intergrades than pure Yellow-shafted forms. Intergrades can be almost any combination of plumage. I have seen males with under wing and tail red but black on the face (yellow-shafted character) and others with red on the face and yellow to orange underwing. I have a photo of a male with orange underwing and a facial stripe that is black, but outlined with red and I have seen a male with black on one side of the face and red on the other side. More striking is a bird I once saw that was red in the right wing and right half of the tail and yellow on the other side. It was female so no facial pattern was present and I wasn’t close enough to see what the crown was like (brown in Red-shafted and gray in Yellow-shafted). Any combination you can imagine between the two forms seems possible. By breeding time, I only see Red-shafted forms in my area. There’s still a lot to learn about this species.
Wow, that “striking” flicker you saw was certainly that – STRIKING! That bird would be a sight to see.
I had no idea there were so many variations of intergrade colors. Thank you, Dan.
This is a wonderful shot. I love the feather detail and that one can tell that the bird has just taken off because the feet are still visible. Even though the bird was past you, you still got a catch light. We periodically have a Flicker in our back yard, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in flight before. This shot is a good step toward removing Flickers from your nemesis list.
Good eye to see those feet, Susan. I thought about processing the image so they’d be a little more visible (lightening the shadows) but decided not to.
Hi Ron,
Years ago, I used to do a Christmas Bird Count in Sonoma County, CA, where MOST birds were assumed to be hybrids or intergrades. One had to document each individual in detail in order to justify calling the bird “red” or”yellow” shafterd. It’s been awhile, but I remember that one of the features we documented was face color. Red-shafted birds have browner faces, yellow-shafted birds have grayer faces. The bird in today’s post has a gray-ish face, so perhaps it has yellow-shafted in its family tree. Hybrid? Intergrade? It would be nice if its nape were showing. As far as “orange” vs “red”, I tend to use “salmon-colored” when describing them, so I’m no help there! In any event, a beautiful bird, beautiful image as always. Thanks!
Cheers,
Dick
Thanks for that feedback, Dick. I’m amazed that that many of your birds had “mixed blood” that far west.
Dick, I think you will find that the Yellow-shafted Flicker has a tan face with a black mustache in males and a gray crown. Red-shafted Flicker has a gray face, with a brown crown with a red mustache in males. The hybrids have a mixture.
Thanks, Dick. I was relying on memory, which is dangerous at my age. And, I was only midway through my first cup of coffee!
BTW, many of the birds in our county were intergrades vice hybrids; and. they showed not just a combination of traits (red AND black malars!), but dilution of traits; e.g., a diluted red crescent on the nape. Interesting stuff.
Thanks again.
Cheers,
Dick
I understand, I have to have at least tow cups of coffee before I can think straight!!
Thanks so much for the beautiful photo and the informative lesson. I didn’t realize the species had been morphed into one!
Joanne, I tried to research the year they made the species change but couldn’t find it. But one of the textbooks I used to use, probably in the late 80’s or early 90’s, still listed them as different species.
PS – Paul Hess has told me that the flickers were merged back in 1973.
A beautiful image and very interesting information…a great combination!
Thank you, Patty.
You are absolutely correct about the information concerning Northern Flicker. However, we need to remember that it wasn’t until wires on wooden poles were set across the Great Plains and that presented an opportunity for the Yellow-shafted and Red-shafted to extend their range until they met and interbred and that their offspring interbred. When that happened the definition for species was broken and taxonomists had to come up with a solution. When you consider that poles were set across the Great Plains in the 1800’s and Northern Flicker is a fairly recent name change, it takes awhile to determine that hybrids are viable and successfully interbreed. Or, looking at it another way, science takes awhile to process information and come up with a solution.
Many thanks for the lesson!
Thanks for providing that info on poles/wires and their affect on flickers extending their range, Dick. I didn’t know that.
Ron, the Great Plains was the environmental barrier that separated the two species. Obviously they couldn’t come in contact because there were no trees to nest in. So, when Ornithologists first came to North America on the East Coast and observed a woodpecker with yellow shafts to its primaries they came up with the common name of Yellow-shafted Flicker. Others when they explored the west coast came up with red shafts, but very similar to the Flicker on the east coast was named Red-shafted Flicker. And, they would have stayed that way to evolve separately except for humans who provided a way for the flickers to breed when we gave them artificial nesting sites across the Great Plains. I used to use this example in class to show how changes to the environment change the evolution of a species, man made or not.
To me this is fun stuff, oh hell, all science is fun stuff!!
Wow! Awesome flight shot Ron!!
Charlotte
Thank you, Charlotte.
I knew about the red and yellow, but didn’t know the species and subspecies information. Good info…thanks Ron 🙂
Zaphir, Back when I was still in the classroom I used to use this flicker situation as an example of how nature doesn’t always cooperate with our attempts to define and classify precisely. The red and yellow shafted flickers just didn’t fit our definition of species very well at all because different species aren’t supposed to be able to interbreed and have fertile offspring. If the offspring had been sterile (as they usually are in such situations) it wouldn’t have been so much of a problem.
Beautiful way to start the day! Thanks, Ron!
You’re very welcome, Diane. Thank you.
Beautiful image Ron. I love the detail in all the wing feathers, they sure have pretty markings. Thanks for the lessons on the naming too.
Thanks very much, Ed.
What a beautiful shot. Those feathers are quite spectacular. The flicker almost has a look of being caught in its eye!! Thank you, Ron.
“The flicker almost has a look of being caught in its eye”
Alice, I think she deliberately attempted to take off just before I could get focus lock on her just to frustrate me. 🙂 This time she was a nanosecond too late!
Beautiful! I occasionally find one of those feathers and they are gorgeous but so much better in flight. Glad you could capture the “stinker” 🙂
Judy, One day I hope to get a sharp shot of a flicker in flight that shows all of those gorgeous red feathers on the ventral surfaces. That would be one spectacular photo.
Phenomenal! I’ll try to bring that crystal clarity into my day. Thanks, Ron.
I’m glad you like it, Alison. Thanks.