Thomas E. Besser wrote
>
>I've also been pondering identification of a (different) hybrid. For most
>of December and into January I've had a N. Flicker coming to suet and
>sunflower feeders. The bird has bright yellow shafts, but red whisker
>mark, grey face and brownish crown and no marking on the back of the neck,
>and I've been calling it a Y-shafted x R-shafted hybrid (although I'm not
>sure that the term hybrid is accurate when describing sub-species
>intergrades). I noticed in my field guides that this bird fits the
>description of a Gilded Flicker pretty well, and I've been pondering the
>question of how one would distinguish a Gilded Flicker (if one were closer
>to the normal range of that bird) from a N. Flicker intergrade that
>happened to have the particular characteristics of the Gilded. I've been
>planning to hit the library to learn a little more about this before
>shooting my mouth off, but this question seems to fit the hybrid
>identification thread so I thought I'd send it out.
>
>Tom
>
>(Not ready to add GIFL to the yard list yet, but JUST GIVE ME A LITTLE
>ENCOURAGEMENT...)
>
>...........................................................
>Thomas E. Besser Phone:(509)335-6075
>WA Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab FAX: (509) 335-8529
>Pullman WA 99164-7040 tbesser at vetmed.wsu.edu
>

Unless I overlooked something in your description--this may be a
Red-shafted Flicker with yellow shafts. Just as you can get yellow House
Finches you can also get Red-shafted Flickers with yellow shafts.

That also doesn't answer your question as to identifying an out-of-range
Gilded Flicker.

--Jerry <tangren at wsu.edu>