Hi, Bob and tweeters.

I've seen the "dancing" behavior many times in my yard, but I've also
seen it recently so assumed it wasn't involved in courtship at this
time of year. Here's the account of agonistic behavior in flickers from
the Birds of North America account by William S. Moore (1995):

Both sexes defend breeding territories and mates aggressively.
Agonistic behavior is highly ritualized in flicker ?dance.? Typically,
2 birds of same sex pair off in mock ?fencing duels,? using their bills
as ?foils,? while a member of the opposite sex looks on. Fencing duels
rarely result in physical contact. This dance is prevalent during early
phases of the breeding cycle (territory establishment, pair formation,
and nest-site selection), but is also seen infrequently and at lower
intensities at other times (Short 1982). Displays that comprise the
dance are clearly agonistic (Noble 1936) and function in territorial
defense, but territorial establishment and pair formation are so
integrated in flickers that these displays may also play a role in pair
formation; this remains poorly understood. Typically, 2 birds of the
same sex face one another on a branch with their bills held at a
slightly upward angle (about 30? from horizontal). Each bird quickly
swings its head back and forth and bobs it up and down, such that the
bill appears to trace a circular or Figure-8 pattern in the air (Kilham
1959, Lawrence 1966, Short 1972). The swinging and bobbing give the
appearance of a mechanically animated toy, and are usually accompanied
by in-rhythm Wicka Calls from both dancers. The red nuchal patch is
usually erected in Yellow-shafted Flickers. Intensity of the dances
varies greatly: the dance of 2 birds (same sex) is likely to have
relatively low intensity and may even be silent, but the arrival of a
third bird (opposite sex) immediately intensifies both the dance and
the Wicka accompaniment. In very intense interactions, which are
common, the dancers flick their wings and spread or rotate their tails
such that the yellow, or red, ventral surfaces of the flight feathers
are clearly visible to the opponent. Bursts of dancing and
Wicka-calling might last 5?10 s, followed by a 30-s period of
quiescence, followed by another burst of dancing where all participants
seem compelled to join in. Bouts may last several minutes and may be
joined and rejoined over a period of many hours. I have observed
sustained series of dance bouts go on essentially all day, involving
the same participants. Variation in the dance is substantial: the
apparent context, number of participants, location, intensity,
duration, whether the wings and tail are spread, whether Wickas
accompany animation, pattern traced by bill, etc., can all vary. No
data are available that demonstrate the range of variation, nor are the
meaning of the variation and the component behaviors, themselves,
understood.

Here is another account of this from the same publication, under
"Behavior":

Courtship and Agonistic Displays. Difficult to distinguish because
courtship and territorial defense are integrated behaviors. Flicker
dance is a complex of threat displays but seems to function in
courtship as well because it is intensified between 2 members of same
sex when a member of opposite sex arrives and looks on (see Agonistic
Behavior, above). Also, low-intensity dances accompanied by soft Wicka
Calls occur between members of a pair. Ritualized tapping occurs
between male and female as they choose a nest site and could be
considered a courtship behavior (see Sounds: nonvocal sounds, above).
Mate guarding not reported.

Interestingly, in light of what started this thread, here's what he
says about sociality in flickers:

Not social. Loosely structured foraging groups sometimes observed
during migration and winter; e.g., Kilham (1983) observed 20 foraging
together in a corn field thinly covered with snow. I observed 10 males
foraging together on a park lawn in Detroit, MI, in early Apr;
individuals were never closer than 3?4 m, but all were within a 25-m
radius.

It's too bad the Birds of North America series is so expensive, as it's
something that would be worthwhile in anyone's library.

Dennis
----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382

On Oct 27, 2005, at 2:09 PM, BobnBernie wrote:

> The following is from Bent's life history notes from this site. It
> is?about a quarter of the way down the page under Courtship. At the
> end, the writer claims that??there was never any suggestion of combat
> or intimidation. There?are more dance observations in the text
> following this excerpt.
>
> http://birdzilla.com/omnibus.asp?
> strType=Bent&strTitle=Northern+Flicker&strURL=northern_flicker.htm
>
> Courtship: The courtship of the flicker is a lively and spectacular
> performance, noisy, full of action, and often ludicrous, as three or
> more birds of both sexes indulge in their comical dancing, nodding,
> bowing, and swaying motions, or chase each other around the trunk or
> through the branches of a tree. From the time of Audubon to the
> present day, many observers have noted audi described the curious
> antics of this star performer. But I prefer to quote first from some
> extensive notes recently contributed by Francis H. Allen, as follows:
> "The courtship of the flicker is an elaborate and somewhat puzzling
> performance. Two birds face each other on the branch of a tree or
> cling side by side, though at a little distance apart, on the trunk,
> and spread their tails and jerk their heads about in a sort of weaving
> motion, frequently uttering a note that is peculiar to this
> performance, a wick-up or weekup. The head motion is a series of
> backward jerks with the bill pointing up at an angle of perhaps 600
> and the head at the same time swinging from side to side. Sometimes a
> short, low wuck is uttered from time to time during the performance.
> These bouts occur not only between male and female, but frequently
> between two males or two females.
>
> "In April 1934, for more than a week I saw a trio of flickers about
> my. house. Invariably the two females went through courtship antics
> together, while the male fed on the ground nearby, apparently
> completely indifferent to them. One of the females was much more
> active than the other, which usually kept a stiff pose with head drawn
> in, only occasionally responding with feeble head-waggings. At no time
> did the active female use any other display than the head-wagging, and
> there was never any suggestion of combat or intimidation.
>
> Bob
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dennis Paulson" <dennispaulson at comcast.net>
> To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 12:23 PM
> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] flickers in groups
>
> > Tweeters, thanks for all the posts on those flocking flickers. Since
> I
> > wrote, I had 5 come in together to the feeders. They are definitely
> > attracted to the yard by the suet feeders; otherwise, they're in the
> > ravine behind the house, although they do also come in, often singly,
> > and search the ground for ants.
> >
> > I wonder if the "dance" that Bob Meyer's video shows might not have
> > been aggressive posturing, which I see all the time when two birds
> show
> > up at a feeder at the same time. Accompanying sounds are distinctive
> > also. In fact, why wasn't it between the two females, rather than for
> > an off-screen male? I've seen a lot of birds bob at each other that
> > way, with spread tail; quite a display and usually at close range.
> >
> > One of my more interesting flicker experiences was one day when I was
> > throwing peanuts out onto the lawn for the Steller's Jays. A flicker
> > landed in the midst of them and immediately began hammering on a
> > peanut, eventually demolishing the shell and pecking the nuts apart
> and
> > swallowing them. For all the times flickers and jays are in the yard
> > together, I've never seen a repeat of that action.
> >
> > Another interesting thing that flickers sometimes do is to feed from
> a
> > cage feeder full of shelled sunflower pieces, not usually accessible
> to
> > woodpeckers. The flicker merely inserts its barbed and sticky tongue
> > through the mesh and pulls out the pieces and swallows them, like an
> > anteater getting termites from a nest.
> >
> > About "intergrade" flickers: the red nape characteristic of
> > Yellow-shafted Flicker has spread pretty much throughout at least
> > northwestern populations of Red-shafted Flickers and probably
> shouldn't
> > be considered a sign of intergradation any more. At least it doesn't
> > mean that that flicker came from the zone of intergradation between
> the
> > two subspecies. I have seen it a number of times in breeding flickers
> > in Washington, far from the range of breeding Yellow-shafted.
> >
> > Dennis Paulson
> > 1724 NE 98 St.
> > Seattle, WA 98115
> > 206-528-1382
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