Backyard Birds - Gilded Flicker

Gila Woodpeckers are year-round residents of our neighbourhood. Four of them feed in my patio regularly. During the summer, they brought their babies in and fed them orange bits and seeds. I was looking out the window early yesterday morning and noticed that one of the woodpeckers was different. I was kind of bleary-eyed, but awake enough to realize it wasn't a Gila Woodpecker.

Gila Woodpecker; Gilded Flicker

I photographed the bird through the kitchen window, because I didn't want to frighten it. When I uploaded the photos, I found this flight shot showing a dark gold underwing.

Sparrow; Gilded Flicker

I remembered a similar bird recently posted on a friend's blog. t. beth of Firefly Forest described and beautifully photographed a Northern Red-Shafted Flicker a few days ago at a location about half a mile from where I live. However, the bird in our yard had a golden underwing, rather than the red of the local Northern. I did a little research and was delighted when I realized that the new visitor eating from the suet block must be a Gilded Flicker (Colaptes auratus mearnsi).

"Like the Northern Flicker, the Gilded Flicker is a medium-large, conspicuous bird, often seen on the ground. Flickers have brown backs with black, horizontal barring. The breast features a large, black crescent and the undersides are speckled. Gilded Flicker compares with the subspecies of Northern Flicker in several ways: Like the Red-shafted subspecies, Gilded Flicker has a red malar stripe, gray throat, and gray ear-coverts. These are in contrast to Yellow-shafted, which has a black malar stripe, tan throat, and tan ear-coverts. Gilded Flicker, however, differs from Red-shafted in having a yellowish crown (hence the name "Gilded"), and yellow shafts on the primaries. Gilded Flicker is slightly smaller than both Northern Flicker subspecies, and the background color of the underside is whitish, instead of tan."

Audubon Watchlist

This morning, the flicker was back, this time on the large seed block usually frequented by Gambel's Quail, Gila Woodpeckers and Cactus Wrens. When two Gila Woodpeckers joined it, it was easy to see the differences.

Gilded Flicker (larger, and with the brown back)

Male and Female Gila Woodpeckers
(the male has the red crown)