One of the most interesting and elusive winter birds, in the Wind River Canyon, is the Northern "Red-shafted" Flicker.  The Red-shafted Flicker is a large, colorful woodpecker over a foot from beak to tail, and a wingspan of nearly two feet.  If you've spent any time at all in the wild places of Wyoming, then you may have seen this bird's red-flash of color, from under their wings, as they fly Northern Flicker, Red-shafted Flicker - Wind River Canyon, WyomingNorthern "Red-shafted" Flicker photographed in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. quickly by; or you may have seen them digging holes in your yard!

     There are three distinctly different Flickers in America, and they do interbreed where their ranges intersect, which causes confusing "intermediates"---- the Gilded Flicker of the southwestern United States, the Northern "Yellow-shafted" Flicker east of the Great Plains, and the Northern "Red-shafted"  Flicker of the West.  These three Flickers were divided by the last ice-age, and now their breeding ranges intersect.  The Northern "Red-shafted" Flicker is the species that we're familiar with in the Wind River Canyon.

     The Northern Flicker are the only woodpeckers that frequently feed on the ground; their diet consists of 45% ants, but with two feet of snow on the ground they eat mostly juniper berries.  As big as the Red-shafted Flicker is, you'd be surprised how difficult it is to get that one magical picture here in the canyon; this is where serendipity is a wildlife photographer's best friend.  It's a moment where you just have to be at the right place, at the right time; and in ten years I've only gotten two photographs that define this beautiful woodpecker.

     In the Old West, the Red-shafted Flicker was seen digging for bugs in Buffalo chips; now you're most likely to see this particular behavior on a ranch, as I have.  Another curious behavior, that I only just learned from research, is something called anting.  

Northern Flicker, Red-Shafted - Wind River Canyon, WyomingNorthern "Red-shafted" Flicker photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.      I've observed Red-shafted Flickers digging holes in my yard, under the pines, near the creek.  They seem to groom themselves occasionally, and I thought nothing of this behavior; but researching this bird revealed something I didn't understand.  Northern Flickers, and some other birds, use the acid in the ants as a kind of insecticide; a bug repellant of sorts.  This behavior has a name----anting.  The word itself comes up as a misspelling on my word processing software for my website, HogbatsPhotography.com.  This is a real behavior that's debated among ornithologists: as that line from everyone's favorite dinosaur movie says so eloquently, "Nature will find a way."

     These two photographs, of the Red-shafted Flicker, are the male of the species; notice the red mustache.  They were both photographed right here in our canyon yard.  This is the reason I repeat my favorite wildlife mantra, "Keep your camera ready."  Because, you just have to be there and be prepared....like I learned in Cub Scouts a million years ago.

writing and photography by Michael John Balog