Subject: "yellow-shafted" flicker at Ballard Locks
Date: Oct 12 08:45:22 1999
From: Ken Steffenson - ksteffenson at watoxics.org


I can't comment on the frequency of yellow-shafted and intergrade flickers
north of Seattle, but I've been seeing them in my yard in Milton (that's
south of Seattle, north of Puyallup). Jim Flynn has told me that the term
"intergrade" is more accurate than "hybrid," because the red- and
yellow-shafted belong to the same species -- northern flicker.

Just a week ago one intergrade started showing up at my suet feeder. It is
a male with salmon coloring on wings and tail, no crescent on nape, and
combination black and red moustache. I totally agree with Darryl Thompson
about how sensitive to movement these guys are. When I'm 20 feet away,
inside my house, and I reach for the binoculars, it often scares him up
into a tree. The red-shafted flickers that frequent my yard are not nearly
as easily startled.

Last winter I was getting two intergrades in the yard -- one with a
well-defined crescent on nape and one without. I certainly pay more
attention to flickers than I used to -- now always looking close to see if
they are red-shafted or intergrades. I haven't yet seen what I'm sure was
a pure yellow-shafted, but I am looking!

Ken Steffenson
Milton, Washington
ksteffenson at watoxics.org