Tweeters,

Well, darned if I didn't have a visit from a beautiful YELLOW-SHAFTED
FLICKER this morning. It came down amidst a small cloud of starlings to
my feeder and I happened to notice that the dark profile of one
"starling" was too big and had way too long a beak. I checked the tree
when they flew away, and it was a flicker.

So grabbed the binocs and checked it out for 5 seconds before it flew
away, and darned if it didn't have the brightest, MOST INTENSE YELLOW
FEATHERS pushed out along it's tail. I had no idea that the "yellow"
in "yellow-shafted" meant bright, almost banana-colored feathers, but
brighter. Maybe more like a summer male goldfinch. I always thought
that you had to see the underside of the tail while the bird was in
flight. I didn't know that you could actually see bright yellow
feathers while the bird was perched. Granted, the feathers were not in
position. In any case, it looked a bit strange. Hope he comes around
again.

Bob Mauritsen
Green Lake, Seattle