Back to rain

Today we are back to what seems to be normal for us this winter – rain…and at only 2 degrees…kind of chilly

It looks pretty dreary and barren out there…but there were Red-wing Blackbirds constantly calling, some Mallard wandering around on the shore as well as a few Green Wing Teal…

and also this pair of Killdeer….

I could hear the Belted Kingfisher, although I couldn’t spot it…but I did see a total of 4 Northern Flicker right in this area….so seems a good time to talk a bit about Northern Flickers…

Northern Flickers are year round residents in this area, but usually, during the month of March, we get an influx of them as this seems  to be  a migration route.  The red-shafted Northern Flicker (shown in the above file photo) is the type seen most commonly on this side of the Rockies and was the type all 4 over at the log bay today, were.  Red-shafted have red coloration under the wings and the males have a red ‘malar’ or as I prefer to call it ‘moustache’ marking.

During the March migration period we occasionally see the pure Yellow-shafted variety…these birds have golden yellow under the wings, the males have a black ‘moustache’ and a red ‘V’ shape on the back of the head, while the females just have the red ‘V’.  What is seen more often during this time period are hybrids between the two varieties…with all sorts of weird combinations of markings…

For example this male had red coloration under the wings and his ‘moustache’ was a combination of red and black…

while this one, with red coloration, and a red moustache…also had the red V of the yellow shafted.

We’ll toss this one in, just to show what a normal red shafted female looks like…along with a Red-wing Blackbird.