Northern Flicker – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Autumn Female Northern Flicker At A Birdbath

By Mia McPherson|October 18th, 2024|Categories: Arkansas, Birds, Northern Flickers, Sebastian County|Tags: adult, Arkansas, autumn, bird bath, birdbath, Colaptes auratus, drink, fall, female, flicker, flickers, garden, lift off, Northern Flicker, Sebastian County, suburban, take off, water, woodpecker, woodpeckers, yard|

Yesterday morning, I was thrilled when a female Northern Flicker flew into the birdbath for a drink on a chilly autumn day. She seemed to glow in the sunlight.

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Birds and Wildlife From Arkansas And Sequoyah NWR In Oklahoma

By Mia McPherson|May 6th, 2024|Categories: Arkansas, Birds, Blue-winged Teals, Carolina Chickadees, Common Five-lined Skinks, Coyotes, Fox Squirrels, Great Horned Owls, House Finches, Northern Cardinals, Northern Flickers, Oklahoma, Painted Lady Butterflies, Pine Siskins, Sebastian County, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Three-toed Box Turtles, Tufted Titmouses|Tags: Baeolophus bicolor, Blue-winged Teal, Bubo virginianus, Canis latrans, Cardinalis cardinalis, Carduelis pinus, Carolina Chickadee, Colaptes auratus, Coyote, Diamondback Watersnake, Fox Squirrel, Great Horned Owl, Haemorhous mexicanus, House Finch, Nerodia rhombifer, Northern Cardinal, Northern Flicker, Painted Lady Butterfly, Pine Siskin, Poecile carolinensis, Sciurus niger, Spatula discors, Terrapene carolina ssp. triunguis, Three-toed Box Turtle, Tufted Titmouse|

I'm sharing a bunch of bird and wildlife photos that I have recently photographed in my friend Steve's yard in Arkansas, and from Sequoyah NWR in Oklahoma.

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Urban Female Northern Flicker

By Mia McPherson|April 7th, 2023|Categories: Birds, Northern Flickers, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, Colaptes auratus, female, flicker, flickers, Northern Flicker, park, pond, spring, tree trunk, trunk, urban, woodpecker, woodpeckers|

Yesterday the sun was shining and I went for a walk at my local pond. Among the birds that I photographed I enjoyed this pretty female Northern Flicker.

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Male Northern Flicker Images

By Mia McPherson|May 4th, 2022|Categories: Birds, Clark County, Idaho, Northern Flickers, Targhee National Forest|Tags: adult, aspen, clinging, Colaptes auratus, flicker, flickers, forest, male, mountains, nesting cavity, nesting tree, Northern Flicker, peeking, Populus tremuloides, Quaking Aspen, Red-shafted, spring, tree, woodpecker, woodpeckers|

This morning I am sharing a few male Northern Flicker images that I took seven years ago at the edge of a mountain forest in the Targhee National Forest in Idaho.

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Adult Female Northern Flicker Foraging In Hawthorns

By Mia McPherson|September 29th, 2020|Categories: Birds, East Canyon, Morgan County, Northern Flickers, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: adult, autumn, canyon, Colaptes auratus, Crataegus rivularis, creek, fall, female, flicker, flickers, hawthorn, hawthorns, leaves, mountains, Northern Flicker, River Hawthorn, small in frame, woodpecker, woodpeckers|

This adult female Northern Flicker and a male were both foraging for hawthorn berries when I spotted them from across a creek high in the Wasatch Mountains.

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Nesting Northern Flickers Provide Nests For Other Birds

By Mia McPherson|May 1st, 2020|Categories: Birds, Clark County, Idaho, Northern Flickers, Targhee National Forest|Tags: adult, aspen, breeding season, Colaptes auratus, conifer, flicker, flickers, forest, male, mountains, nest, nesting, nesting cavity, Northern Flicker, primary cavity nesters, rest, resting, secondary cavity nesters, woodland birds, woodpecker, woodpeckers|

By excavating their own nests Northern Flickers provide nests for other woodland birds that can't excavate nesting cavities on their own and those nests can be used over and over again. Nature is brilliant.

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Immature Northern Flicker In The Wasatch Mountains

By Mia McPherson|August 24th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Morgan County, Northern Flickers, Utah, Wasatch Mountains|Tags: branch, canyon, Colaptes auratus, female, flicker, flickers, immature, messy, mountains, Northern Flicker, perched, woodpecker, woodpeckers, young|

This immature Northern Flicker was one of the last birds I spotted and photographed three days ago while up in the Wasatch Mountains and I was happy that she stayed long enough for me to take a nice series of images of her.

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Photographing a Male Northern Flicker Excavating a Nesting Cavity

By Mia McPherson|March 23rd, 2018|Categories: Birds, Clark County, Idaho, Nesting Birds, Northern Flickers, Targhee National Forest, Wildlife Ethics|Tags: adult, aspen, Colaptes auratus, ethics, excavating, flicker, flickers, forest, male, nesting birds, nesting cavity, nesting cavity tree, nesting tree, Northern Flicker, photograph, photographing, Populus tremuloides, Quaking Aspen, woodpecker, woodpeckers|

I dug into my archives and picked these Northern Flicker photos from May of 2015 to share today because I saw a Northern Flicker yesterday and thought of how they will soon start excavating their nesting cavities to rear their young in.

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Northern Flicker Nesting Cavity

By Mia McPherson|May 5th, 2016|Categories: Birds, Clark County, Idaho, Northern Flickers, Targhee National Forest|Tags: adult, aspen, Colaptes auratus, flicker, flickers, forest, male, mountains, nest, nesting, nesting cavity, nesting tree, Northern Flicker, tree, woodpecker, woodpeckers|

I photographed my favorite nesting tree in the Targhee National Forest and this Northern Flicker nesting cavity.

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High Key Northern Flicker Image

By Mia McPherson|December 1st, 2015|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Northern Flickers, Utah|Tags: adult, Colaptes auratus, flicker, flickers, high key, male, Northern Flicker, perched, post, wooden post, woodpecker, woodpeckers|

My favorite image from photographing yesterday at Farmington Bay WMA is this high key Northern Flicker image taken near Glover's Pond.

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Northern Flicker on a fence post in the Centennial Valley

By Mia McPherson|September 15th, 2015|Categories: Beaverhead County, Birds, Centennial Valley, Montana, Northern Flickers|Tags: adult, Colaptes auratus, fence, fence post, flicker, flickers, male, Northern Flicker, perched, valley, wooden post, woodpeckers|

Early on the second morning when I was in Montana last week I was able to photograph this male Northern Flicker on the side and top of a weathered fence post.

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Northern Flicker Letting The Chips Fall Where They May

By Mia McPherson|May 5th, 2015|Categories: Birds, Clark County, Idaho, Northern Flickers, Targhee National Forest|Tags: adult, aspen, bird photography, chips, Colaptes auratus, excavating, excavation, flicker, flickers, forest, male, nest, nesting behavior, nesting cavity, nesting tree, Northern Flicker, Populus tremuloides, Quaking Aspen, tree, woodpecker, woodpeckers|

I could hear the Northern Flicker excavating inside the nesting cavity and when he would stop he would appear with a bill full of shavings and forcefully eject them from the cavity.

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Male Northern Flicker in its nesting cavity

By Mia McPherson|June 20th, 2013|Categories: Birds, Madison County, Montana, Northern Flickers|Tags: adult, aspen, Colaptes auratus, flicker, flickers, forest, male, nest, nesting behavior, nesting cavity, nesting tree, Northern Flicker, Populus tremuloides, Quaking Aspen, Red-shafted, tree, wildlife, woodpecker, woodpeckers|

I was photographing some Pine Siskins along a road in Madison County, Montana when this male Red-shafted Northern Flicker stuck his head out of his nesting cavity in an aspen and surprised me.

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