I'm just back from a trip to British Columbia to visit family and friends, and am delighted to say that a Vancouver Island friend has instantly answered a question Dick and I have had for a while now, about some feathers he found while walking around the nearby coulee with our little dog, Bonnie-Belinda.
Many thanks to my longtime friend Pat for identifying the feathers as coming from a Northern Flicker, or perhaps from more than one Northern Flicker.
Therefore, I no longer have to wonder what I should post today for my long-awaited return to blogging. Thanks again, Pat.
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| FEMALE NORTHERN FLICKER (WIKIPEDIA) |
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| MALE NORTHERN FLICKER (WIKIPEDIA) |
According to Wikipedia:
The northern flicker is part of the genus Colaptes,which encompasses 12 New World woodpeckers. Nine subspecies and an extinct subspecies of C. auratus are recognized. The existing subspecies were at one time considered separate species, but they commonly interbreed where ranges overlap and are now considered one species by the American Ornithologists Union. This is an example of the "species problem".
The northern flicker is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which has been ratified by the governments of Mexico, Canada and the United States and prohibits the killing or harming of the northern flicker, including its nests and eggs.
Extinction is always a threat, as seen in this paragraph from Wikipedia:
The Guadalupe flicker (C. a. rufipileus; syn. C. cafer rufipileus) is an extinct subspecies formerly restricted to Guadalupe Island, off the northwest coast of Mexico. Its presence was last recorded in 1906.
Extinction is rampant in today's world. It's just a matter of time...
K
12 comments:
We have had a flicker here for several years and they have even nested here. But last month I, too, found a pile of flicker feathers and I believe that a hawk got it. A few days before that, I also found the remains of a quail. Yes, hawks need to eat, but I wish they would do it elsewhere!
Hello, beautiful photos of the Flicker. Extinction is an awful end, I pray that it stops here. Our government is not helping. Happy Thursday, enjoy your day and weekend ahead!
Hari OM
what a pretty birdie!!! Lovely to have 'gift' feathers too. Hope the trip was all you wished of it! YAM xx
What lovely feathers!
Thanks, Yam. The forest fires in British Columbia negated one of my stops, but my time on The Wet Coast was wonderful because it was not, this time, wet!
Nice visit in the Okanagan Valley where I grew up, until an unexpected skirmish occurred. More on that later.
K
I only find white and black feathers, mainly magpie. I would love to find another colour at some point.
Great you finally found out what it was precisely though. It's always annoying when you should know it and just don't!
Well I really missed that one Kay. I did think about flicker but then looked at your photos again and thought the colours were far too bright. Just shows how much I know. Glad your to see PC got fixed. No excuses for not blogging now.
Really nice. This is beautiful bird.
now, that was no easy tast identifying those feathers. I would never have guessed for flicker. :)
Oh great, congratulations for answered puzzles! That is what we feel when we found a larva and don't know what it will become as adults, and we don't have the conditions to rear it. About the papaya tree, being in the tropics we have lots of them, in fact i allow volunteer plants in the property so the birds can have the fruits. At least the crows will not eat my mothers free range chicks.
So glad to see you back -- and to know that your absence was for a lovely reason instead of more computer woes. We just returned from a trip to Tacoma/Seattle/and Blaine, almost to the BC border -- someday again we'll have time to get across. We used to see flickers often when we lived out at the Lake here in Oregon and occasionally see them in Florida -- I don't know if they are two different varieties (I am doing pretty well to recognize that they are a flicker instead of a woodpecker.) Their feathers are lovely.
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