Greetings All

I agree with Dennis R; from Oct-Mar (or thereabouts) I see flickers in flocks more often than singly. Usually 2-6 birds, and I notice the flocking behavior more on the eastside (but there are fewer trees to hide other flock members, so the apparent difference may not be real).

When I was still feeding birds (before being overwhelmed by rats, cats, and pigeons), one year I had 3 distinct flicker flocks visiting my feeder. I could tell each flock by its members. The smallest was 4 birds, the largest 7. Each had at least one hybrid, and hybrids were about 30% over the winters I did feed.

Interestingly, male hybrids seemed dominant (red malar stripe and red nape crescent). These birds pretty consistently had first shot at feeding and would drive other flickers off the suet, etc if they'd not fed yet.

Cheers
Steve Mlodinow
Everett WA