There has been an abundance of Northern Flickers – also known as “Golden-shafted” – just about everywhere I have been lately. I often wind up struggling to get one or two decent photographs of one in flight, but this spring I have been a bit more successful, so I am devoting an entire short post to a beautiful bird.

Sometimes they are not hard to capture doing a woodpecker thing on the side of a tree, but all too often I will unknowingly flush one and see nothing but its white rump trailing into the distance. The bird below gave me the opportunity to capture its departure.

Often enough I see one anting in the grass.

The individual below was just sitting facing me – but I could not resist taking too many photos.

Here’s a view of the back with the red chevron marking on the head, for comparison with other woodpecker species.

Some more of those golden shafts…

So the Northern Flickers have been very busy lately and they will likely be visible off and on through the summer.

I may be back to this page again soon, as it looks like I will have a morning or two off from birding if the forecasts for rain and snow come true. Almost every day I have seen another first-of-year (FOY) species, so it would be good to get caught up now, before the warblers take over.